Ice Prince Alchemist
by 9foxgrl
Summary: The story behind 'The General's Son'. Zephyrus Armstrong and his friends enter the wizarding world after the battle with Father to face new dangers. Not all is what it seems as the these young Alchemists discover the origin of the first Philosopher's stone.
1. Prologue: Secrets of Amestris

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

**This story features an OC Harry raised by Olivier Armstrong, and friends with OC characters. Will included some occasional character bashing, threats of death, etc… There will be some changes to the Fullmetal story line in order to accommodate some of my future plot twists and ideas…etc.**

**I DO NOT OWN FMA OR HARRY POTTER**

* * *

_** Prologue **_

_Secrets of Amestris _

The Amestris government and its citizens hold many secrets, some not as strong as others.

The government had the Homunculus who had created the country in order to do nothing more than to create a Philosopher's stone out of a large human sacrifice.

Lyre Malfoy, a librarian and a witch in Central City had run away from England at the age of sixteen after she became pregnant with the daughter of a serial killer. She had altered her family's memories into believing that she had committed suicide. While she missed being able to use her magic freely, she would gladly give it up to protect her daughter from the mad man she had once loved and the monsters she once considered family and their enemies.

Fabian Prewett, a soldier who was now stationed near Ishval was the former heir to a prominent wizard family. He had fled from England as well after he married a mundane woman. The family's patriarch had despised the idea any mundane married into the family. He had faked his death with the help of his twin brother Gideon in order to save the life of his soon to be born son. His wife's family originating from Ishval made it a good place to start over. He kept that status a secret in order to keep them from being effected by the purge during the Ishvalan War.

And then there was General Olivier Mira Armstrong, commander of Fort Briggs, aka the Ice Queen. In an unmarked document, Olivier had adopted an unknown orphan found in the wilderness of Briggs Mountains. A two year old boy she had named Zephyrus. No one is sure of how it happened, but one day after returning from North City the child was in her company. While many were surprised to see their normally cold commander taking a child under her care they said nothing of it and tolerated the child's presence. Zephyrus was quiet and was often seen sitting in his mother's office reading a book or when he got older; assisting in Development.

Few people outside of Briggs knew about Zephyrus; Olivier's family, a doctor at North City hospital, Hughes (who had helped her to covertly file the paperwork), and finally there was Roy Mustang and his team who found out by accident.

For a few hours a rumor buzzed around about Zephyrus being Olivier's and Roy's secret love child…Until the rumor reached Olivier and she left a notice of the various ways she was going to torture and kill who ever started it.

Most would have thought Roy would have laughed when he met the child but he just smiled and said it was about time she showed she was a bit human and influenced the child's curiosity about science and alchemy with books and a few elementary lessons.

While Olivier was a strict parent there were still some kind points to her. She encouraged her son to become braver then the average two year old, and raised him on the principles of the North. Those who knew about the child understood that he was the General's pride and joy…so if anyone tried to kill/hurt him would be stabbed several times then buried alive in an avalanche.

This was later proven true when a Drachman spy made an attempt to kidnap him.

Until November, a month before Zephyrus' fourth birthday when the Drachmans decided it was time to attack the fort again. The battle was quite extensive from normal. And with entire close combat squad out they had to rely most on the gunnery division. Then out of nowhere a bright light shot out from above Briggs and created a large avalanche occurred burying a third of the Drachmans and the creating a wall of ice that did not melt until mid-February, even with all the cannon fodder it endured.

When they returned to the fort they found Zephyrus barely conscious standing in a small transmutation circle he had drawn by hand and a large amount of blood streaming from an old scar on his forehead.

He had lost so much that an immediate blood transfusion had to be performed. Luckily his mother (ironically) and an unknown soldier currently stationed in North City had the same type.

By Zephyrus' fourth birthday his messy dark hair and green eyes turned to a slightly curly snow white and his eyes the same ice blue as his adopted mother and his scar vanished.

Olivier sighed as she looked at her son who had fallen asleep in a chair next to her desk. She was going to need someone to teach him alchemy before he accidentally hurt himself.

But who could she trust to teach her son that the even the Fuhrer did not know about?

Her brother? _No, she was not going to let the pile of muscles contaminate her son. Besides, Buccaneer was starting to teach him hand to hand combat. _

Roy Mustang? _Hell. No. The child was ice, not fire. _

After contemplating ever Alchemist she knew that none of them could really fit a suitable fighting style for someone who used ice and potentially swords in a flowing manner that created a strong defense and offense or one she could trust. Then one day the Alchemist came to her in the forms of a short blonde and a walking suit of armor.

"I hear you two are close to my brother. How is he doing?"

"The big strong guy we know and love."

"Alex is doing just great." The Elrics said in unison. They fidgeted when Olivier growled.

'_Damn. I hoped he had been at least shot by now…wait a second…'_

"I have an assignment for you than Fullmetal. Have Falman, escort them to Room 731."

"Yes sir."

Ed and Al gawked. The small room had entire wall dedicated to notes on alchemy, and some on engineering designs along with a worn out punching bag hanging near a cot.

"Can I help you?"

The voice belonged to a child, who looked to be about nine or ten, wearing civilian clothes under a military issued winter jacket. He had ice blue eyes, and snow white hair that curled a bit at the ends, similar to Olivier's. He was sitting against the wall reading with a sword propped up against his leg.

"Elric Brothers, meet, Zephyrus."

"Are you an Alchemist?"

"Well, yeah."

"We both are." Al added.

"Maybe one of you can tell me what I've been doing wrong on this transmutation."

After five minutes the brothers knew why the General sent them to see this kid. He had talent as an Alchemist, he just need some verification before he tried anything risky. So far he could almost manipulate ice and water to the same extent Ed could with metals.

"What's your observation Fullmetal?" Olivier asked.

"That kid is pretty intelligent concerning elemental alchemy, especially with water and ice. He's already got the basics down, and with some guided lessons he could use elemental alchemy to rival the Colonel in less than a few years."

A dark aura surrounded Olivier and she cackled. "Excellent."

_*In Central, Roy sneezed, and felt a series of murderous chills go down his spine. He started to wonder if he had a cold.*_

"So who was that kid?" Al asked Falman as he showed them around.

"He had to be someone important if the General let him stay in Briggs." Al pointed out.

"That was Zephyrus Armstrong, General Armstrong's son." Falman replied.

The Elric brothers stopped and looked at their friend in shock.

"HER SON?"

"Yeah, came as a surprise to me to. He might look innocent but I've been told that Zephyrus is just as calculating in tactics like his mother."

"Really?"

"I've lost several matches of chess with him to prove it."

The brothers did not see Zephyrus again until after Sloth was thrown out of the fort. They later found out that it had been Zephyrus driving the third tank in the fight.

Zephyrus sat with Buccaneer and the Elrics during his Mother's conversation with General Raven. They glanced over at Zephyrus when Olivier lied to General Raven about not having a child. To their amazement Zephyrus kept calm until Raven made a pass at his mother.

"As soon as this is all over, I am going to kill him." Was all that Zephyrus said with a hint of malice in his voice.

The Elrics shuddered. Considering who raised him and the sword clenched in his hands, there was a very good possibility of that happening.

After Raven's speech to the Northern Forces Olivier had a caravan going to Central for supplies sneak Zephyrus out of the fort while Raven oversaw the resealing of the tunnel.

"But Mother, I can fight!" Zephyrus argued as he was forced to pack.

"No!" Olivier snapped. "It's too dangerous!"

"How is this any different than when I participate in the skirmishes with Drachma or combat training with the troops? Is it because of that transmutation circle that was created under Amestris that Fullmetal was talking about?"

"How did you-?"

Zephyrus held up a small black disk from his desk.

"I attached one of the remote radios I've been working on to your jacket so I could listen in on the conversation. I heard enough to know that Fuhrer Bradley isn't who we think he is."

"If those bastards at Central truly plan on making a Philosopher's stone by sacrificing our entire country, I don't want you in it! I will convince my parents to leave on vacation; it would look none too suspicious."

"And if I disobey you?" Zephyrus asked.

Olivier glared at him. "Then I will knock you unconscious and have you smuggled out of Amestris."

Zephyrus reluctantly obeyed and left with his grandparents to Xing, only to sneak back into Amestris a few months later with Prince Ling's bodyguard Lan Fan and two other youths his age.

One was eleven old Ethan Prewett; a copper haired, red eyed boy who had a knack for gothic style earth alchemy.

Then there was Lisa Malfoy, an eleven year old girl with platinum blonde hair and fiery hazel eyes who could one day rival both Kimblee and Roy Mustang with her explosive fire alchemy.

The two had family that was going to be involved in the fighting. Ethan's father Fabian was part of the Eastern soldiers that had been chased out originally from Ishval prior to the civil way. However he still sympathized with the Ishvalans and often visited the refugee camps to ensure everyone was alive and receiving enough care, as well as staying under Central's radar.

While Lisa's mother Lyre was a librarian but after the Central library burned she was later transferred to Central Command as part of the Hughes' investigation team then later on the communication department. A month after the transfer Lisa had described her mother as edgy and acting as she had uncovered some kind of conspiracy in the government.

They arrived just as the final battle was about to begin.

Zephyrus had put on the combat uniform of the Brigg's forces and then ran over to grab some ammunition. Behind him Lisa and Ethan had done the same; but they were wearing the badges of Eastern command. None of the soldiers paid any mind to the children fighting alongside them except for the Briggs soldiers.

The Northern forces shared a look at Zephyrus as he took the spot of a sniper.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Xing?"

"Aren't all of you supposed to be at Briggs?"

"Cheeky brat." Someone muttered.

"You know she is going to be pissed at you for this." One of them muttered.

"Then I better live so she has someone to be pissed at." Zephyrus replied.

The fight was brutal. Lisa ended up running out to help Roy propel his flames out even further with a variation of alchemy combustion. The two's combined alchemy created intensive blue flames. Ethan provided several defenses of coffin walls and tossed some crosses to Alex for ammunition while Zephyrus created a ring of slippery ice to freeze Father in place and to help move Ed and Izumi out of the way.

After it was all over Zephyrus' uncle Alex took him aside.

"I have informed your mother about what you have done."

"How upset is she?"

"More than she ever was with me."

"So she is unharmed." Zephyrus said with a relieved sigh.

"She is, but she was hurt a bit. I'd give it a few days before heading home."

"NO! MOTHER!"

Zephyrus turned to see Lisa running towards a covered body being carried out of the Fuhrer's office. Long blonde hair and a bloody handy was all that was visible. Lisa reached it and started to cry uncontrollably.

"We believe the Fuhrer did her in." one soldier whispered to Roy. "We found one of his sword sticking out of her stomach."

Last Zephyrus saw his new allies Ethan was leaving with his father to be reprimanded and Lisa was being escorted away by Hawkeye.

**One Week Later…Armstrong Manor**

After finally being reunited with her son Olivier hugged him, than lightly cuffed him on the head and started to yell.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"

"You expected me to listen blindly? I overheard you and Fullmetal talking about the giant circle under Amestris! I was not going to just leave and let you possible get killed!" Zephyrus snapped. "I am not one of your soldiers!"

Olivier slammed her hands on the table.

"You may not be one of my soldiers, but you are still my son and unless you want to be put on report while you are under my command from now on you will watch that sass mouth!"

"I'm not allowed to officially enlist until I turn eighteen remember?" Zephyrus snapped.

"In this case, an exception has been made."

Zephyrus stared at his mother in shock as she placed a form with the Amestrian Alchemist Branch symbol on her the desk.

"Grumman has been elected as Fuhrer and has made your adoption not only official, but a part of the public record. He was impressed by your skills at on the battlefield and has promoted you as a State Alchemist. I convinced him to have you be stationed at Briggs. It will become official on your thirteenth birthday. For now you are at the apprentice level."

Zephyrus gingerly took the form in his hands.

"Who am I apprenticed to?"

Olivier sighed as she leaned back in her chair. "The closest one who can match your fighting style is the Fullmetal Alchemist; Edward Elric. It was either him or Izumi Curtis, but she refused to take on any more students."

"I understand. But Mother, didn't Fullmetal loose his abilities to use Alchemy when he revived his brother though?" Zephyrus asked with confusion.

"That is something we though as well…but it would seem that someone else already paid a price equivalent to that needed to resurrect a human." She looked at her son with a distant gaze as she touched his forehead where a lightning bolt shaped scar once was.

"You mean-?"

"When you drew that alchemy circle as a child you caused the very mountains of Briggs to shake. From what the others have told me that the amount of raw power used to do that alone should have killed you."

"But it didn't." Zephyrus replied.

"Which mean something was taken from you besides your original appearance. The question is what?"

A phone call stopped their conversation.

"Yes?"

"_General Armstrong? F__u__hrer Grumman has requested you and your son's presence at a meeting along tomorrow at ten hundred hours."_

"Very well then." Olivier replied and hung up. "It's late; we can finish this discussion in the morning."

"Yes Mother."

Zephyrus retired to his room curious as to what his mother had said. Had he met the Gate of Truth that Ed had described, but couldn't remember? He had been quite young when the incident happened.

All he had remembered from that night was a lot of explosions and screaming.

Looking at a glass of water on his night stand he clapped his hands and placed them on the glass. The water immediately froze over.

"Impossible."

_To be Continued_…

**In the North the rules are simple. "Only the strongest can survive." New powers are witnessed. Allies are created, past lives are revealed, and the start of the saga of the Ice Prince. **

**Next time: The Invitation **

**We cannot always run away from the past. But we can forge our own futures. **

Character Data

_Zephyrus Rex Armstrong_: Slightly curly white hair and blue eyes

Parents: Biological: James & Lily Potter(Both deceased).

_Adopted by Olivier Armstrong._

Alchemy Instructor: Edward Elric

Birthday: Original: July 31st, New: December 21st

Alchemy: Ice

Age: 11

_Lisa Morgana Malfoy_: Long blonde hair and dark hazel eyes.

Parents: Lyre Malfoy (deceased) & Tom Riddle (unknown)

Guardian(s): Roy Mustang & Riza Hawkeye

Alchemy Instructor: Roy Mustang

Birthday: June 14th

Alchemy: Combustive fire

Age: 11

_Ethan Gideon Prewett_: Short copper red hair and red eyes.

Parents: Fabian & Abigail Prewett

Alchemy Instructor: Alex Louis Armstrong

Birthday: January 1st

Alchemy: Earth

Age: 11


	2. The Invitation

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Ch. 1 The Invitation

Zephyrus followed his mother into Central with anticipation. In the morning he had shown her his new ability by freezing the fountain outside the estate, he managed to thaw it out as well. The plan was to go to the hospital and meet with the Elric brothers after the meeting in order to prepare a set up for Zephyrus' apprenticeship before they returned to Resembool.

To his surprise Ethan was at Central HQ with his father Lieutenant Fabian Prewett and Lisa was in the company of Roy Mustang.

"Lisa, how are you?" Zephyrus asked.

"I'm okay considering…Colonel Mustang made me his apprentice so I can learn to control my fire and combustion alchemy better. I've been made his and Hawkeye's ward until further notice."

"I'll ask Miles to pray for you." Olivier and Zephyrus said in unison.

"From how Hawkeye describes it, you don't need much control in the explosion department." Roy laughed.

"Careful Colonel, she might take your spot at Eastern Command in a few years." Ethan's father joked.

"Anyone with more than half a brain could do better than Mustang, Lieutenant Prewett." Olivier replied.

Roy flinched.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fuhrer will see you now."

"Ah, come in!" Grumman said cheerfully from his office. "How is everyone? Good I hope!"

"May I ask what this meeting is about sir?" the tall red haired man, Zephyrus now knew as Lieutenant Fabian Prewett, asked.

"The reason I called you here are these letters that mysterious appeared the other day via fire bird at your residences. The name on one I only recognized because of some well hidden adoption records from North City."

Fabian paled at the insignia on the letters.

"No."

"I take it you recognize these?"

Fabian started to turn red and objects in the office started to shake.

"How dare…they…how dare they?"

"Uh Dad…you're kind of making the room shake…" Ethan said slowly backing away.

"LIEUTENANT PREWETT! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND EXPLAIN WHAT THIS IS!" Olivier snapped.

Fabian growled. "These letters are from a private magic school in the United Kingdom. The Headmaster is a manipulative Old Goat who thinks that all he does is for the 'Greater Good' and doesn't care about who gets hurt along the way, as long as the outcome is in his favor."

"Magic doesn't exist." Roy replied.

"Yes it does." The Armstrongs replied in unison.

"Wait- what?"

"Demonstrate Zephyrus."

Zephyrus pointed at a book on Grumman shelf and had it float over to him and had it change several colors.

"As you can see Zephyrus has excellent control." Olivier said secretly enjoying the look of disbelief on her colleague's face.

"How did you find out?" Fabain asked.

Olivier smirked. "Before or after he turned Alex into a chicken as a child?"

Zephyrus blushed.

***Flashback***

_"Father, Mother, this is my son Zephyrus." Olivier said encouraging her son to stand in front of her instead of behind her coat tails._

_"Hello." Zephyrus said timidly. His grandfather and aunts were huge!_

_"HE'S SO ADORABLE OLIVIER!" the Armstrong matriarch and her daughters cheered._

_Zephyrus whimpered a bit and backed up into his uncle who had just arrived._

_"HELLO THERE!" Alex yelled scarring his timid nephew out of his wits._

_"MOTHER!" Zephyrus yelled as he ran back to his mother, not hearing a near silent pop. He then felt his mother start to shake with silent laughter._

_He turned and saw a confused bulky white rooster with a curly blonde feather on his head._

_BWAK?_

***End Flashback***

"It lasted only a few minutes, but it was worth it." Olivier snickered much to Roy's horror.

Zephyrus blushed. "It was an accident."

"After he started learning how to make things float we chalked it up to be a rare ability like telekinesis, but we found a book in a North City thrift shop that best described it."

"What book?" Fabian asked.

"A Child's Guide to Practical Magic Lessons by Arthur Winchester Ph.D. a professor from Montreal Magic Academy. It was greatly worn out but still legible." Zephyrus replied.

Ethan was not listening entirely to the group's conversation, but reading his letter with excitement. Up until now, he had only heard about Hogwarts from an old journal his father had kept from his life in the United Kingdom. There was mentions of rivalries, first crushes, pranks, and family ties that were tested again and again during the Wizarding War.

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**_

_**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

_**Dear Ethan Prewett,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31st**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Minerva McGonagall**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

"Mother, we have a problem." Zephyrus snapped.

"What is it?"

Zephyrus glared at the paper. "Other than this is addressed to my birth name and they know where I live."

Olivier looked at the name scrawled in green ink.

**Harry Potter**

**3rd bedroom on the 4th floor**

**Armstrong Manor**

"They know…where you live." Olivier growled. "I think we will have to upgrade our security."

"The address was written by a magical quill, not hand." Fabain said.

"Still." the two Armstrongs said with evil looks. "This is spying."

Suddenly Fabian did a double take at the name written on Zephyrus' letter.

"General...you said that Zephyrus was adopted correct?"

"Yes."

"...I think there is something you all should know then."

"About what?"

"About Zephyrus' life before you adopted him." Fabian said with a sigh as he leaned against the wall. "It all started eleven years ago with a prophecy..."

A few minutes later the office was quiet except for the sound of Olivier tightly clenching the hilt of her sword.

"So...because of some cryptic puzzle these idiots think that my son is some kind of messiah who can protect them all?"

"Why the Hell would I give a damn about a culture that threw me to the wolves after my birth parents were killed?" Zephyrus stated incredulously. "I'm not interested in saving any backwards community that has no apparent sense of logic!"

Olivier smiled at that statement. Originally after the 'incident' when Zephyrus was a child she pushed him to take an interest in engineering, hoping that it would divert him from learning alchemy until she could find him a proper teacher. It worked in a small manner, but the stubborn child still continued to learn alchemy on his own with her brother helping by sending him some of the family alchemy texts and hints on how to stay in control.

"Amen to that." Fabian sighed. He could help but feel the same way after he first moved to Amestris.

While the country was a tad behind industrial wise compared to Western Europe due to their micro-nation status and lack of stable trade with surrounding neighboring nations, the Wizarding World was even further behind.

"How well known is this Prophecy?" Grumman asked.

"Only a small handful know of it's existence, and other than myself, the only others who know of it's contents are the Headmaster and a former Death Eater spy."

"What about...this Seer?"

Fabian groaned. "Here's the thing, she can't remember any of the actual Prophesies so many believe her to be a fraud."

"That would work in our favor then." Roy commented. "At least this way, we can hope Zephyrus won't get mobbed in Britain."

"Good luck with that." the wizard commented.

*~(Ice Prince Alchemist)~*

"So Zephyrus, can we hang out for a bit?"

"Why?" Zephyrus asked.

"Well, Lisa & I have known each other for two years now, but we nothing about you." Ethan replied. "So, maybe we could go out to lunch or something."

"Very well, let me get permission first." Zephyrus replied before doing an about face and walked over to his mother. "Mother, may I have permission to go to lunch with Ethan and Lisa?"

"Are you armed?"

"Only my 9 mm, set of knives, and my sword." Zephyrus replied ignoring Ethan's look of disbelief.

"How did you get through customs?" Ethan asked in shock.

"Very well, be back in an hour so we can discuss what you were last working with Development on as well as the plans Fullmetal and I will make for your apprenticeship."

"Yes mother."

"So…shall we go to the cafe?" Lisa asked.

The three walked down to the cafe across from where the Central City Library was being rebuilt and took a seat outside. The entire time Ethan was wondering where Zephyrus was carrying all his weapons.

"Right, so let's go over our areas of expertise and any vices we should avoid while we are abroad." Zephyrus said taking a sip of his coffee.

"So, I guess I'll start off. I'm Lisa. Before all this mess my mother…encouraged me to be a lawyer so I know a lot of domestic and international laws, but I also dabble in chemistry and physics. The only vice I have is anyone touch my personal things or angers me, do it and I will burn you."

"My name is Ethan, My strengths are mathematics, making up excuses, strategies, and history, oh! And art! My only vice would possibly be any trash talk about my Ishvalan roots or beliefs."

"What about you?"

"My name is Zephyrus. I specialize in various weapons, technology, hand to hand combat, and of course ice based alchemy. I only have two vices: discrimination, and people who dare mess with my coffee." Zephyrus said gesturing to his cup of coffee. "If I haven't had one in the morning, then don't do anything to possibly piss me off."

"You can't be seriously." Ethan gasped.

Zephyrus just smiled as he raised his coffee in a toast.

*~(Ice Prince Alchemist)~*

"I've discussed a training regime with Fullmetal. From mid-June to August you will be in Resembool under his tutelage and some traveling across Amestris. During the holidays you will be back at Briggs. I've asked to him to make sure you can create a weapon in an instant."

"Yes mother."

"From Fabain's information these wizards don't hold much value on physical fitness unless you are a member of these…Quidditch teams…so don't slack off on practice. Your exam will be on July 31st in two years' time."

"Yes Mother. Do you think I will be allowed to carry my sword at school?"

"What do you think?"

"I will carry it concealed along with my knives Mother." Zephyrus replied.

The rest of the summer went by rather quickly. Zephyrus spent divided between learning Alchemy with Edward and Al, as well as learning the basic engineering behind auto mail from the Rockbells.

While he did study a lot about earth alchemy as a child; Zephyrus mainly specialized with water so they would often work at a river near the Rockbell house. After his body recovered enough, Al began to spar with the teen.

**September 1st**

Zephyrus found himself teamed up with Ethan and Lisa once again, boarding the Hogwarts Express. The three had been escorted by their guardians around Diagon Alley. (Although it was a shocker for the two men to see Olivier wearing a civilian tan business suit instead of a military uniform.) Fabian just barely dodged a mob that looked shocked at the fact that he was still alive.

To no one's surprise the Goblins greatly respected Olivier and helped her claim Zephyrus' accounts which had been under Dumbledore's control. Both Armstrongs were furious to hear more than seventy percent of the Potter finances and properties had been liquidated over the last ten years by the manipulative Old Man. A third of which they invested in various companies that would help grow the small fortune.

The group had split up in order to grab all of the supplies as well as collect some other reference materials that could add to the newly created magic wing in the Central library, something that Zephyrus planned to fund with a small fraction of his inheritance from his birth parents.

Aside from Olivier beating up some men in Knockturn Alley the trip went well.

After registering the three with the embassy as goodwill diplomats Fabian warned them about the Headmaster and anyone who was extremely loyal to him especially his sister Molly after they heard her practically yell Platform 9 and 3/4 to the children following her.

"Be wary. She practically worshiped the man when we were in school." Fabian said as he led them to the last compartment.

"Lisa, I want you to have these." Roy said taking Lisa aside to hand her a small box.

"Ignition gloves?" Lisa asked.

"I understand that you prefer to use the combustion transmutation circle on your pendant, but these would be a lot easier for you to use a moment's notice. Especially if someone learns about who your father is. Especially his loyal followers."

Lisa shuddered. She had to tell Roy and the Fuhrer about that man after their meeting in private.

Roy placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I don't think any less of you for it, and I doubt that your friends won't either."

"Thanks."

Olivier hugged her son as he boarded. "You need to be especially careful Zephyrus. Several people will be out to either harm or take advantage of you because of your birth name."

"Let them try, I will break their weak spines." Zephyrus said with a sadistic grin.

Olivier smirked.

"Give them Hell."

Across the platform and most of England, several wizards and witches young and old felt a murderous chill go down their spines as. Their future was now hanging on by a thread.

**In Britain it is those who wield wands that are in power. But they will soon learn how the Amestrians hold in intelligence and strength. Will this be the start of a new era? Or the end of wizard rule?**

**Next time: Boy Who Lived?**

**Will the Magical World be able to handle the Prince of Briggs?**


	3. Boy Who Lived

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

The Boy Who Lived?

"This train ride is pretty boring." Ethan said as he watched the passing countryside. "I half expect a hijacker."

The compartment grew cold and dark.

"That's if the Armstrongs didn't shoot them in the train station….you guys didn't shoot any hijackers in the train station did you?"

"No." Zephyrus replied calmly.

"…You're not a big talker are you Zephyrus?"

"No."

"Hey, Zephyrus. Did you go to a private school or something as a kid?" Ethan asked curiously.

"No. Mother wanted to send me to the private school in North City originally, but found it too risky after an escaped murder attacked the school when we went to enroll me. Eventually one of our engineers retired after he was in an accident in the East; he started a small school in Frost Cove. I went there."

"Frost Cove?"

"It's a small village located near Fort Briggs; it's home to many families of soldiers who are stationed there. It's close enough so the soldiers can periodically visit their families, but also hidden well enough by a snow break so that in case of an invasion or sudden blizzard the village won't be harmed.

"How come we never heard of it?"

Zephyrus tilted his head slightly. "Well for one thing is that in order to keep the village safe only the people stationed at Briggs and trusted affiliates know about it and its location."

The door to the compartment slid open and a lanky red head stuck his head in. "Hey have any of you seen Harry Potter?"

"NO! Now get the Hell out!" Zephyrus snarled venomously making the boy practically disappear as he ran out.

Zephyrus huffed as he leaned back in his seat. "Damn invasive wizards."

"Get used to it Zephyrus." Ethan commented.

"Yeah, if those books in Diagon Alley are anything to go by; your birth name is really famous. Like you are their messiah or something." Lisa added.

Zephyrus twitched. _'I'm going to have to try hard not to stab anyone. Damn it; why was I only allowed to bring one magazine of bullets with me?'_

Several wizards on the train simultaneously shuddered in fear while in Central Alex was very happy that he managed to convince his sister not to let his nephew as many guns as he would normally would been allowed access to.

"Excuse me, but have you seen a toad?"

The three looked up to see a fair haired round boy looking at them nervously.

"No, we haven't seen any toads."

"Oh…well…thank you."

"Hold on." Zephyrus said taking out his wand. "What's your toad's name?"

"Trevor."

"TREVOR THE TOAD; GET OVER HERE!" Zephyrus snapped making silver and blue sparks shoot out of his wand.

A frightened rib-bit later and Trevor was sitting at attention inches from Zephyrus' feet.

'_Even nature is scared of him.'_ Lisa and Ethan said with a shudder.

"Run away again and I will end you." Zephyrus said in a low cold voice.

Trevor saluted.

"Trevor!" the boy cheered picking up the toad. "Thank you…um…I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom."

"Ethan."

"Lisa."

"Zephyrus. Take a seat Neville, perhaps you can tell us a little about this country. We are foreign students studying abroad at Hogwarts."

"Really? I didn't know any ever came to Hogwarts."

"There's a first time for everything!" Ethan replied.

The rest of the train ride was educating for the trio as Neville explained the Houses and the school, as well as the wizard government. A front for a terrorist group was Zephyrus' only comment about it. He also touched briefly on the subject of the Boy Who Lived.

"So let me get this straight, this kid is famous because he survived a spell as a baby that no one else managed to before?" Zephyrus asked incredulously.

"It's called the Killing Curse for a reason."

"But still, all this hero worship towards a baby who probably doesn't even remember that night." Ethan said uneasily.

"It's a sign that the community will believe anything they are told." Zephyrus commented dryly.

Neville shrugged. "Well, I suppose that's right. But since Dumbledore was the one who first called him the Boy Who Lived it sort of stuck."

The four passed the time idly chatting about other factors in the magical community from the importance of blood status to the four houses of Hogwarts.

To their surprise Zephyrus had brought a bag of homemade sweets from Amestris to share.

"Aunt Catherine and Grandmother have found candy making to be a new fancy of theirs now." Zephyrus said taking a peppermint stick.

"Did your mother help?"

"My Mother is capable of burning water, what do you think?"

"…"

"It's the only reason she was never allowed in the kitchen, even on base without the fire brigade on call or at least five feet away and all other occupants in the kitchen armed with a fire extinguisher. "

"…"

"That was one birthday neither I nor Eastern and Northern Command would ever forget." Zephyrus said with a shudder.

"…"

"Hell!"

_*~ (Ice Prince Alchemist) ~*_

_** "Longbottom, Neville."**_

"_You are brave boy, but in this case, loyalty will win in gaining you more friends, so go to… HUFFLEPUFF!"_

"_**Malfoy, Draco."**_

"Isn't that the blonde ponce that was glaring into all the compartments from the train?" Zephyrus asked to the amusement of the red haired boy behind him.

"Relative Lisa?" Ethan whispered cautiously into her ear.

"I pray not." Lisa said as she looked at the arrogant brat's face.

"_SLYTHERIN!"_

"_**Malfoy, Lisa."**_

At the Slytherin table Draco and several others looked at the girl in shock.

"Not another one." The red head behind Ethan groaned.

Lisa walked up with a blank smile on her face, ignoring the looks of disbelief from the purebloods that had ties to the family.

"_So, who do we have here? The child of the lost Malfoy heiress and the Dark Lord? Oh my; what a combination. You have neither persona. A fiery temper; just like your mentor."_

"Mention it to anyone and I will use you for target practice."

"_And hot headed too…better be GRYFFINDOR!"_

A few more names passed before:

"_**Potter, Harry."**_

"Did she say Harry Potter?"

"_The_ Harry Potter?"

"Wow, you are famous." Ethan whispered with disbelief as several people stood up looking around for him.

"No, only my birth name is." Zephyrus hissed before walking up to the stool. He paused and glared at the Hall.

"Lets' make this clear to all of you. I may have been born Harry Potter, but under law I am _Zephyrus Armstrong._ Anyone who tries to call me otherwise will be ignored."

The students and teacher alike whispered and uttered about this development. Some where all ready to ignore him when….

"_HOW THE HELL DID YOU SURVIVE LIVING WITH __THAT__ WOMAN_?" the Hat screamed out loud while jumping a foot in the air before Zephyrus caught it at an angle and glared at it.

"Why does everyone say that when they find out who is my mother?" Zephyrus asked the Hat in an exasperated tone. "She's only human."

"_HUMAN? HUMAN? IF SHE'S HUMAN THEN THE FOUNDERS WERE ANTS! SHE MAKES THE DARK LORDS OF THIS CENTURY LOOK LIKE TODDLERS THROWING TANTRUMS AND DUMBLEDORE IS A GOAT! S-SHE'S"_

"The Wall of the North, Harbinger of Death, Ice Queen, Hell Hath no Fury, the Second Coming of Joan of Arc or the Great Bear; I've heard them all growing up. Now can you just sort me already? Preferably not into Gryffindor or Slytherin, while they may fit my comrades, neither would be very suitable for me."

"_DO I LOOK CRAZY? You would kill them all off and then where would we be?!"_

Several people looked at each other worried. Lisa just shuddered.

"He probably would." Ethan replied weakly.

"Then put me in a House that is rational enough to use their brains or at least provide a somewhat intelligent conversation." Zephyrus replied now very annoyed.

"_RAVENCLAW, I'm sorry Rowena. But they are the only ones who might survive him."_

Zephyrus dropped the Hat on the stool and headed over to the table of the Ravens who looked at him curiously.

"What are staring at?" Zephyrus snapped in an annoyed tone.

"**Prewett, Ethan."**

A bunch of red head gawked as the dark copper haired boy walked up. Following his father's advice Ethan's eyes were shielded by sunglasses.

"Young man, you should remove those." McGonagall pointed out.

"No offense ma'am, but that is a bad idea." Ethan replied.

"I insist."

Ethan pouted. "Alright, fine."

There was a loud gasp as Ethan revealed his crimson Ishvalan eyes.

"Oh can it, I warned you guys." Ethan said as he took the hat.

"_An Ishvanan? My I haven't met one before."_

"Gee thanks, but I'm only a half Ishvalan from my maternal Grandparents. What's with the redheads?"

"_Just them being surprised about seeing a supposedly dead cousin in front of them."_

"Oh Hell."

"_Hmm…Fabian Prewett, a pureblood heir who supposedly died in the last war. But from your memories he faked his death in order to protect your mother from the Voldemort's wrath."_

"Wonderful, that explains a lot. Now can you sort me already?"

"_You are quite the tactician but Slytherin would not work out well. Intelligence is a strong suite, as well as loyal…hmm…but the best fit would be…GRYFFINDOR!"_

"Hell." Ethan swore as he put his glasses back on and sat down with Lisa.

After the sorting the Great Feast passed rather tensely. Zephyrus tried to ignore anyone who tried to use his birth name.

Over at the Gryffindor table however…

"Why do you have red eyes?" Hermione asked as soon as she could.

Several people nearby paused their conversations to hear the answer.

"I'm half Ishvalan." Ethan replied .

"What's an Ishvalan?" she asked curiously.

"It's the name of a culture of people from the eastern region in our country." Lisa answered for him.

"Who asked you snake?" The red head, they now knew to be Ron snapped only to have a steak knife land centimeters from his hand that was reaching for another piece of roast.

Ron paled as he saw a message on the blade written in ink.

_Next time I won't miss_

Ron looked up and saw Zephyrus glaring at him. He shuddered as Zephyrus dragged a finger across his throat.

_**Later…**_

"What are your impressions of the new first years?"

"I must say I'm surprised with some of the sorting. I half expected Miss Granger to be in your House Filius."

"I was surprised as well Minerva."

"What do you think about Mister Potter?"

"If you regarding to Zephyrus Armstrong, then any future Dark Lord is doomed." Severus replied. He had done a light legitimacy scan on the boy only to be block by a large castle surrounded by snow and ice; guarded by animated knights and masked soldiers. The only memory he got to see was of a the child learning to fight with a sword."

"I must say, I didn't think you would take the Hat's rants so serious Severus."

"Pomona, you and I know well that Hat has survived several…colorful…characters over the years and it has never reacted like that!"

"I'm sure it was just a fluke." Dumbledore said cheerfully.

The teachers looked at the Headmaster like he was insane.

"Albus, have you been spiking your sweets with fire whiskey again?" Severus asked incredibly.

"Save me! Save me!" Peeves screamed as he zoomed through the ceiling.

"Peeves, what has gotten into you?" Minerva asked.

"I tried to steal that boy's dark glasses but a white haired who was talking to him...He…he almost killed me!"

"…Peeves you're already dead."

"We are doomed! Doomed! The ICE PRINCE OF BRIGGS HAS COME!" Peeves screamed as he flew out the castle.

"I feel sorry for your more…invasive students Filius."

_Ice Prince Alchemist=|=_

The first few days passed rather quietly at Hogwarts allowing for the Amestrians to fall back on their normal routines.

Zephyrus would get up before sunrise and go for a routine run and endurance drill at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Lisa found a quiet spot nearby to do yoga and gymnastics. Ethan would do his morning prayers facing Ishval before working on his boxing work outs that Alex had instructed him to do.

The three fell into the routine of sitting together in Charms and History of Magic as well as helping each other with their assignments in the afternoon, usually inviting Neville to join them.

The boy had officially been placed under Zephyrus protection after the three had overheard a Howler belittling him for not being in Gryffindor. Hundreds of years of magic stood no chance against an irritated Zephyrus with a migraine walking by.

"I should pray that Dad never teaches your mother how to send one of those Zephyrus." Ethan said with a shudder.

Zephyrus repressed an identical shudder. He had never been scolded often by his mother without good reason…but he had often overheard her angry bellows echoing in Briggs. It was never pretty.

After a week passed politics began to settle a bit. Several bullies learned that their actions were considered barbaric to Zephyrus and presented a chance of meeting death if he ever found out, which he always did.

_**As the year progresses the team will encounter trolls, monsters. As well as the darkness with in.**_

_**Next time: Swordsman of Briggs.**_

_**A/N: I'm editing Ice Prince Alchemist, hopefully I can add the new chapter tomorrow! **_


	4. The Swordsman of Briggs

_Ice Prince Alchemist_

_9foxgrl_

_I do not own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist in any way or fashion_

_Thank you to Laora, Sandanio,and reader713, SilveredFoxeh, and everyone else whose words inspired me to start this story - 9foxgrl_

Ch. 3 - The Swordsman of Briggs

Miles had entered the General's office to leave her an inventory of the artillery and Development's progress on new weaponry when he noticed a photo lying on the ground.

'_It must have fallen off her desk when she left earlier.'_ He thought.

He flipped it over and couldn't help but smile. It was of Zephyrus when he was around five years old in Oliviers' arms. They were dress like civilians, playing in the snow, with big smiles.

He remembered this. It was a late celebration for Zephyrus' birthday since she had to go to Central for a month, and since Zephyrus was getting over a cold at the time he stayed behind under his and Dr. Elsie's care. Miles and Buccaneer covered for her an entire day so she could spend some time with him.

It wasn't the mother and son patented 'I am going to kill you' smile but an honest to God smile.

Miles carefully tucked it into Oliver's desk and left. It had been right about this time a few years ago when he first met Zephyrus.

*flashback*

_Miles was heading to his private quarters, he had just heard about his family's deaths in Ishval, and had barely been able to keep from crying in front of the General until he was dismissed for the day. That was when a small red ball bounced off his foot. _

_He picked it up confused. What was a child's toy doing here? _

"_Mister, can I have my ball back please?"_

_Miles looked to see a small white haired boy with crystal blue eyes standing right in front of him wearing pale blue pajamas. _

"_What are you doing here kid?" Miles asked confused as he handed him the ball. _

"_I live here with my Mother." The boy replied. _

_Miles blinked. A child lived in this Hell hole known as Briggs?_

"_We haven't been introduced. I'm-". _

"_Zephyrus, you were supposed to be in bed ten minutes ago." _

_The two males turned to see Olivier coming down the hall. _

"_Sorry Mother I was playing and lost track of time." Zephyrus replied, not noticing Miles paling. _

'_She's his mother?' he gasped. He looked closer and did notice that he had her eyes. 'I wonder who the father is though.'_

"_Well playtime is over. Go to bed or you will fall asleep during your morning lessons."_

"_Yes Mother. Good night." Zephyrus hugged her then turned to Miles. "Good night Mister. Rest well."_

_Miles stared as the child ran down the hall then disappeared around a corner. _

"_To answer your question I adopted him."_

_Miles jumped. He forgot she was still there. _

"_Go to your quarters Miles. It's been a long day for all of us."_

"_Yes Sir."_

"_And Miles."_

"_Yes Sir?"_

"_Just so you know I drilled it into him to shoot intruders first, ask questions later."_

_*flashback ends*_

'_For an 'Ice Queen'…she does have a heart. Deep down, she's just a mother.' _Miles said with a smile as he tucked the photo in the Generals' desk then set the reports down. _'Maybe I should get her to write Zephyrus a letter or vice versa.'_

* * *

Zephyrus was not having a good day. First that idiot Ronald Weasely annoyed him throughout breakfast because he sat with Neville at the Hufflepuff table, to the point the red head threw away his mug of coffee, claiming that it would rot his brain, and trying to make him drink pumpkin juice instead of coffee with his breakfast. Only to spill the vile liquid onto Zephyrus's potion essay.

If it were not for Lisa and Ethan pleas not to kill him, he would have drowned the bastard in the damn juice instead of dumping it over his head and then hitting him upside the head with jug.

That was a detention that was well earned in his eyes.

Then right after he managed to restore the document with a neat charm from Flitwick, another moron burned it with a missed aimed jinx.

Now here he was agitated, tired, and ready to kill something.

"TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!"

That will do.

In the screaming mayhem Zephyrus made his way to the door, eager to finally have an opponent.

"Zephyrus! I can't find Lisa!" Ethan shouted as he shoved his way to the cold Raven. "Ron yelled at her earlier!"

Crap, the fight would have to wait.

Zephyrus and Ethan broke away from their Houses and ran towards the Charms corridor where Lisa was last seen. They were arrived just in time to see Lisa trying to hold the troll off by blasting it with fire.

"Ethan, what do you know about trolls?"

"Magic resistant, not too bright, smells wretchedly, and is as strong as your Uncle Alex."

"I see, get Lisa out of here." Zephyrus said tossing aside his robes.

"What?"

"Just do it."

The troll was just about to smash Lisa out of existence when it felt something stop the club. It looked and saw Zephyrus holding the club up with his bare hands.

"Looks like I get to kill something after all." Zephyrus said as he shoved the troll into a wall then drew his sword. "Get moving Lisa."

Lisa scurried out of the way as Zephyrus charged at the troll.

"Now students please settle-"

CRASH!

Everyone in the Great Hall jumped as Ethan and Lisa ran in and slammed the doors.

"It's okay!" Ethan gasped. "Zephyrus is killing the -"

CRASH!

The duo pulled open the door enough to see the troll face plant into the floor with several stab wounds that were causing it to bleed heavily. It tried to get up, but Zephyrus jumped from God knows where and kicked it's head down so hard that it made the floor crack.

It tried to crawl away but Zephyrus grabbed it by it's trousers and dragged it back.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked it with a blood thirsty grin that would make grown men cry.

"Lis…is the troll….screaming mercy or mermaid?" Ethan said as he grabbed some popcorn to munch on while they watched the Prince of Briggs merciless beat the troll up.

"I think that was mercy." Lisa said munching a candy apple. "Hard to tell since he crushed the jaw."

"Die!" Zephyrus screamed as he shoved the blade into the creature's throat.

One enraged battle cry later, Zephyrus had THROWN the dead/dying troll out a window.

"I win." Zephyrus growled. Sheathing his sword Zephyrus headed back to the dorm for a nice shower then to bed Mother was right. Holidays were a pain in the rear.

The silence that he left in wake erupted. Several students looked at him in awe and fear. The teachers ran outside to see that the troll was dead, and had landed in the large acromantula nest in the Forbidden Forest. Needless to say they were enjoying the free meal when the wizards arrived.

"Hell." Was all Ethan could say as he dragged Lisa back to the Gryffindor dorm.

Flitwick raced up to the Raven Tower after returning from the forest to eagerly award his pupil forty points for defeating the troll without a single spell. Then he had to tell him he had been assigned a detention by the Headmaster for destruction of school property.

_Ice Prince Alchemist_

"A detention for killing a troll. Are they mad?"

"Zephyrus, I think they were more upset that you caused a ton of property damage."

"I used alchemy to fix it in the morning!" Zephyrus snapped. "And how the Hell did you get a detention?"

"I slugged Ron in the nose just as McGonagall came in this morning for our weekly House meeting. I found out that he made Lisa upset last night, called her an Orphan and murderous snake." Ethan replied. "Hey how did you get assigned out here? I thought your detention was with Flitwick."

"Someone changed it." Zephyrus replied as headed with Ethan to Hagrid's hut where they would be spending detention assisting him.

After hearing through his mystery channels about the change and possibility of entering the Forbidden Forest; Zephyrus armed himself with his .45 caliber handgun.

"What is Lisa doing?"

"Well, she's in detention too."

"Dare I ask why?" Zephyrus asked curiously.

"…Draco tried to assert his power over her as her 'male relative' in order to get her to hang out with him and she basically set his ass on fire in Potions. She's serving her detention in the Library."

"Lucky, at lease she knows what she is doing already." Zephyrus huffed.

"'Ello boys!" Hagrid called out as he exited his hut. "Blimey 'Arry, I 'aven't see ya since ya was a baby…what happened to yer hair and eyes? Yeh look nutin like yer parents."

"Accident." Zephyrus replied. "And my name is Zephyrus."

Hagrid frowned. "Your name is Harry."

Zephyrus snarled. "I was born as Harry, but I am not any longer. I was abandoned as a child by that family that your boss left me with! Now could we please get this over with?"

Hagrid looked at Zephyrus then whistled for Fang. The large dog bounded out and jumped on Ethan. After licking his face a few times it turned to do the same to Zephyrus.

"Heel." Zephyrus said with a bit of malice in his voice.

Fang stopped.

"Sit."

The large dog obeyed.

"I do not appreciate being jumped on." Zephyrus told him. "So none of that understand soldier?"

The dog barked.

"Behave and I may actually pet you." Zephyrus warned him. "At ease Fang."

Fang barked then joined Hagrid's side again.

Ethan just shook his head. "You never cease to amaze me. The fact that animals obey you like you're their commanding officer."

"You just have to show them who's boss." Zephyrus replied. "Now come one, the sooner our task is done the sooner we can go inside. So, what's our job?"

Hagrid snapped out of his stupor. "We're tracking an injured unicorn. If we have to, then we'll put it out its misery."

"So what's our tactical plan?" Zephyrus asked.

"Well…just follow the blood drops." Hagrid said pointing at the droplets that led into two paths. "Looks like we'll have to split up here."

Zephyrus twitched. "Or we could just get Fang to track the scent for us."

"He can do that?" Hagrid replied.

Zephyrus resisted the strong urge to face palm and the stronger urge to use the man as bait. "We don't have for impromptu training, so we'll do this manually."

Zephyrus surveyed the area then pointed. "There are some hoof prints here in the brush, the creature went this way."

They followed the tracks until the path split again. Hagrid followed the other path before Zephyrus could find any signs of the unicorn. Zephyrus then noticed large droplets of blood and withdrew his gun.

"It's close." Zephyrus muttered as he took the safety off. "Get ready."

Ethan slipped on his alchemy gloves. Unlike the ones Roy and Lisa used, his were made from a pair of dragon hide that Fabian had given him. He managed to sew in the transmutation circle and added some iron to the knuckles to add an extra punch.

They reached a small clearing where the unicorn laid dead, a something was feeding off of it.

"Hell." Ethan whispered.

"KILL IT!" Zephyrus roared shooting at the creature as it charged at them.

Ethan slammed his fists into the ground in order to make several large pikes slam into the creature; general chest cavity. It fled just as Zephyrus ran out of bullets and reached for another magazine from his pockets.

"You think it's dead?" Ethan asked.

"No, but we must have fatally wounded it." Zephyrus said looking at the large puddles of red blood stained with silver.

"Should we go after it?"

"No." Zephyrus said walking over to the unicorn. "We are in unfamiliar territory, and not to mention we don't know what other creatures may live here."

A roared in the distance made Ethan quickly agree with him.

"HARRY! ETHAN! YOU TWO OKAY?"

Zephyrus growled. "Why can't anyone remember my name?"

-Lisa-

At the moment Lisa was busy cleaning and re-shelving ten cart loads of books that 'conveniently' added up over a day. Lisa just ignored the librarian's glares and got to work when she arrived.

She was on cart number five when she found a book that caught her eye.

Nicholas Flamel- the Great Alchemist of Europe

Lisa skimmed it and stiffed a gasp.

_Only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone._

Lisa paled as she kept going.

_Over 700 years old._

'_That was about the time Father and those Homunculi started reaping havoc on Amestris, and the same time the country was founded. It can't be a coincidence.'_ Lisa thought uneasily as she kept flipping, each time a different word or sentence made her stomach turn.

_Creation of Chimeras_

_Blood Alchemy _

_Creation of Homunculus_

_Blood crests and their use for protection_

_Human transmutations_

Seeing that the stuffy old witch was not looking Lisa stuffed it into her bag. This was not going to be pretty in the morning.

-Next Morning-

Lisa waited with bated breath as Zephyrus and Ethan skimmed Flamel's book. The entire time the temperatures dropped and Zephyrus glared.

"All of this is a bunch of lies. Fullmetal explained all of these topics to me and none are how they are described in this book."

"Yeah, according to this human transmutation is simple."

"Er…now what?"

"Let's forward this to Central." Zephyrus replied. "We'll let them investigate this. We have a treaty with both mundane and magical Spain so the Alchemy branch can get them to help get ahold of him. In the meantime we need to get a hold of some more information here."

Ethan smiled as he took a card out of his pocket. "Err…well it's not 100% reliable but…"

Zephyrus raised a brow. "Your source of Intel…is a Chocolate Frog card?"

"Well it's a start, it does have a little information about Flamel on it."

Zephyrus took the card.

"Hey you guys."

"Hello Neville!" Lisa said waving at him.

"So did you hear about Quirrel?" Neville asked.

"Did the vampire finally come back for his revenge?" Zephyrus asked dryly.

Neville shuddered. "Maybe. They're saying that he never showed for his morning class with the Seventh Years. When they went to his office to check there was blood and these metal thingies called bul-l-ets everywhere."

Zephyrus paused_. 'So it was Quirrel we encountered in the forest?'_

"Is there something else Neville?" Lisa asked.

"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you in his office Zephyrus."

Ethan quickly wrapped up the alchemy book while Zephyrus hastily wrote a letter to Ed & Al. Who better to ask about the Philosopher's Stone then the men who had the most research data available to them?

"Send that on ahead while I go deal with this." Zephyrus told them.

Zephyrus got directions to the Headmaster's Office from an upperclassman. Within seconds of seeing him the gargoyle jumped aside. He knocked and the door swung open.

He paused a moment to look at the bright red bird sitting on a perch. It whistled at him. Zephyrus then merely gave it a curt nod.

He looked to the Old Man who had yet to look up from his paperwork. Zephyrus cleared his throat in order to draw his attention.

"Ah Harry my boy. How are you?"

Zephyrus growled. "Other than people constantly calling me by the wrong name I've been just _peachy_.

"Other than that, I have arranged for you to spend the holidays with your aunt and uncle in at their home in Surrey. Get reacquainted with them before you return for the summer."

"The Durselys?" Zephyrus questioned. "Why in the Hell would I go to spend the summer with them? I have no desire to spend neither Christmas nor the summer with a bunch of strangers."

"They are your family. They've missed you."

Zephyrus laughed coldly. "If they missed me so much why did they leave me for dead in the wilderness? Better yet, why did you stick your nose into business that isn't yours by deciding where I would spend the holidays?"

"I was only trying to make your transition back to England easier." Dumbledore said in his grandfatherly voice.

"Why in the Hell would I need to do that?" Zephyrus snapped. "In case you didn't already know, but I am here on a student visa! Both governments are aware of magic and have set wards to make sure it is not tampered with!"

Seeing the man not understand he continued.

"On these records is the information of the school I am attending as well as my scheduled return and departure dates and since I am the son of a high member of my country's government I have to comply with international laws. Which means if I do not return home my country could potential declare war on yours. And in the words of the Prime Minister **'If those wizards want to maim/kill/control the boy so bad then they will be the ones crushed when his mother retaliates. The mundane government and it's citizens will have no part in it!**' In simple terms, you force me to stay somewhere against my will and my country will declare war on magical U.K. and destroy it."

Zephyrus tilted his head with a very taunting smile. "Do you really want to take that chance?"

* * *

**The Holidays are a time of joy, and adventure. A gift can become special.**

**Next time: Winter's Folly**

**You never know what you are going to get in life **

* * *

_Sorry for the long wait folks. As compensation please enjoy this special OMAKE!_

**OMAKE**

"Olivier?"

"Kitchen."

Strongine and Amue paled; hoping they heard wrong and entered the kitchen. They were in shock from two big reasons.

Olivier was cooking.

She was in a dress…A casual plain dress, but still a dress.

"Where is little Zephyrus, we thought we would give him his presents early."

"He is out running with Alex." Olivier commented as she turned revealing a mix bowl.

"So you're making your son a cake?" Strongine asked as she watched her elder sister practically massacre the cake mix she was making.

"Is it not traditional to make our children's birthday cake?" Olivier asked as she shook the cake batter into the pan then scrapped the rest out with a butcher knife.

Amue blinked. _'Cake mix is not supposed to cackle….or have cackling skull shaped globs in it.' _

"Well…it is…" Strongine sweat dropped as she took in her sister wearing civilian clothes and with a batter stained apron, her hair tied back in disarray. _'Oh Sister, if only the Drachmans could see you now…'_

"Besides, we are playing this off as an early Christmas party, so people from Eastern Command are coming too. I will be making some more food."

When Zephyrus returned to the manor later on with his uncle, they were surprised to see Strongine and Amue practically running out.

"Sisters, is something wrong?"

"Olivier is cooking!" Amue said. Alex paled, remembering what happened when their mother 'attempted' to try and teach Olivier the basics of cooking when she was younger. The kitchen barely survived just learning to make a grilled cheese.

"I dearly sorry we will not be able to attend your party Zephyrus; your gifts are in your room."

"Thank you Aunt Strongine." Zephyrus said as he watched his aunts practically jump into the town car. He then saw his Uncle looking at it wistfully as he drove off

"Is something wrong Uncle? You aren't leaving either are you?"

"N-no…We should go see if your mother has set the kitchen on fire yet."

"Huh?" Zephyrus replied tilting his head curiously.

"OH YOU PRECIOUS CHILD, YOU HAVE NOT YET HAD THE TRAUMA OF TASTING THE DANGERS OF YOUR MOTHER'S CULINARY CREATIONS!" Alex cried hugging his nephew.

"UNCLE! I NEED AIR!"

-At the Party-

"Th-thank you all for coming for my birthday party. I greatly appreciate you all taking the time from your busy schedules to celebrate with us not only this event, but the holidays to come. Please enjoy yourselves."

The guest clapped politely as Zephyrus stepped down and walked back to his mother. Since none of them had children, the guests were primarily adults. The youngest was Private Feury who tried to get Zephyrus to act more like a little kid.

"I'm surprised you invited Mustang." Riza said keeping an eye on the man.

"I figured that he could provide comedy entertainment." Olivier replied watching Feury try to explain what a snowman was to her son who looked confused. Miles was next to his trying not to laugh at the boy's concept of fun games.

Roy smiled sneakily as he took a fork and poked into the cake. They wouldn't miss just one bit of frosting.

BOOM!

On instinct many in the room dropped to the floor or drew a weapon. In Zephyrus' case he was dragged down by Miles, both of them pulled a knife. It was a moment before they all processed the scene before them.

Roy stood frozen covered in cake and chocolate frosting.

"Big Sister…did you booby trap the cake?" Alex asked uneasily as Roy slowly tipped over and fell onto the carpet.

"No." Olivier replied with a mixture of confusion and amusement at the sight of Roy being smacked awake by his Lieutenant.

"I was afraid of that."

BOOM

The Armstrongs turned to see Zephyrus being shielded by Miles, who appeared to be covered in pudding. One of them had tossed a knife into the dish to check it.

"…Sister…"

BOOM!

"NO! NOT THE PUNCH!"

BOOM!

"Um…"

"All this food is explosive at the touch." Hughes gawked as he saw Miles grabbed Zephyrus and rolled under a table as Havoc made a salad explode.

"So what now?"

Feury grinned and turned to Zephyrus who poked his head out from behind a table. "You want to play a kid game?"

"Ok…?"

"FOOD FIGHT!"

-An hour later-

"The Fuher is here!"

Olivier grabbed her son (who, to her pride, had bombed Roy with various baked potato grenades and a bowl of punch) and shoved him into a hidden crawlspace behind her father's portrait. She was going to let Alex explain why it was covered with various fruits.

Fuher Bradley came in with his assistant and stared at the battle torn room with some of his best decorated soldiers covered head to toe in various foods.

"Do I want to know?"

Olivier smiled. "It would seem sir that my cooking is the cause of all this."

Bradley took a look at a seemingly harmless plate of gelatin that had been spared in the onslaught. It looked just like the fancy cuisine his servants make.

'_Wait. She can cook?'_

"You can cook?"

"No." several voices replied.

"This looks good." The assistant said as she took a serving fork and poked it.

"NO!"

BOOM!

-After that day several soldiers and government officials swore never to eat, or touch, anything that Olivier cooked. Bradley had an alchemist or two try to exam the samples of the food he had collected, believing it to be a form of alchemy…but they reported it only as really bad cooking.

What he didn't know was that the scientists never checked. They were terrified if it was Alchemy…Olivier would make it into her newest weapon.

No one would be safe.

* * *

Author Note: The FMA story line never give Olivier's mother a name so Antoinette is just a guess. Sorry about the delay, but I scrapped this chapter over four times trying to figure out a good way to uncover the new villain.


	5. Winter's Folly

**Ice Prince Alchemist**

**9foxgrl**

Ch. 4 - Winter's Folly

_A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist. _

_For those wondering about the change in chapter titles, I was writing and found added the 3__rd__ floor this time would take too long so I split it. Thank you for reading! _

"Zephyrus is there a reason the Headmaster is glaring at you?" Ethan asked that night at dinner.

"I just told him that he cannot force me to stay here in the U.K. without causing war." Zephyrus replied with a sadistic smile. "That and he called me Harry; I swear full-time magic users are imbeciles. No offense Neville."

"None taken." Neville replied. The boy's shy demeanor was gone after hanging around Zephyrus so long.

"Hey Zephyrus, I thought you were going to ignore everyone who called you by the wrong name." Lisa asked.

Zephyrus grimaced. "I tried, but after being called Harry for the hundredth time by my House mates…I had to put my foot down and show them that I was dead serious."

"Err…who did you kill or maim?" Ethan asked.

"No one…I just threatened to pull a sword on them." Zephyrus said casually.

Lisa nearly spat out her apple juice. "YOU DID WHAT?"

Zephyrus raised a brow. "Please, Ethan punched someone so hard their nose had to be regrown and Lisa set someone one fire! You two have no room to talk about grand gestures of retaliation."

Lisa blushed. "He had it coming."

"Kindly elaborate." Zephyrus sighed. "Considering I have only heard that he did something to piss you off."

**Lisa POV**

_I had just arrived to the dungeons for Potions when Draco came up. I got ready for his usual attempt to get me to admit I was not a real Malfoy. _

"_Good morning." _

_I looked at him curiously. The first day of class he was spitting nails about me dare using his family's name and now he was being courtesy? _

"_I found out from Father that we really are cousins." He explained. "He was hoping if you could tell him how to get in contact with Aunt Lyre. He really misses her."_

"_She's dead." I said distantly. "She was killed in a terrorist attack last May."_

_Draco paled. "I see…I'm very sorry. What about your father?"_

_I bit my lip nervously. "Don't know who or where he is. He just knocked her up and left. Mom wrote in her will though I was never to go to him in case he ever bothered to try and find me."_

"_Do you need somewhere to stay?"_

"_No thanks, I'm staying with a colleague of hers." I replied as we entered the class room. To my surprise he sat down beside me. _

_Ethan came in and looked at us in surprise but took the seat behind Draco. _

"_A magic family?" _

"_No." _

_Draco's face twisted. "You're living with Muggles?"_

_I nodded. "It's no different than normal."_

"_You mean Aunt Lyre lived like a Muggle?" Draco practically screamed. _

_I glared at him. "Yes, and that's because there are barely any witch or wizards in our country."_

"_I'll talk to Father so you can come live with us. You need to be a proper witch so when your betroth is chosen-"_

"_Hold on a second!" I snapped. "What makes you say who I can and cannot marry or where I live?"_

_Draco looked at me funny. "Because as Head of our family Father can and will decided your fiancee for you. You are only a woman after all."_

'_Only a WOMAN?' I glared at him. "Cousin you are getting close to get your ass set on fire."_

_I heard Ethan choke behind me and start making motions for Draco to shut up. He knew from experience that I would follow through on my threat. _

"_I am you cousin, and the male heir, therefore you are to be under my protection and must listen to me." Draco said smugly. _

_I twitched. _

"_In the meantime there is a fourth year named Pucey who told me he fancies you. He would make a good candidate for a husband."_

_Finally I couldn't take it. I took out my wand and pointed at his trousers. "INCENDIO!"_

"Frankly he was lucky that Ethan dumped a cauldron of water on him so fast to put the fire out. He only had light burns." Lisa said casually as she took a bite out of her food.

Neville couldn't help but gawk at her.

"Lisa, you're my new hero." He gasped."You set Malfoy on fire!"

"I thought Zephyr here was your hero." Ethan said waving a fork of potatoes him. The Ice Prince growled at his nickname.

"But she set Malfoy on fire." Neville said dramatically. The boy in question caught his cousin's gaze and flinch.

"I broke Ron's nose!" Ethan said with a pout.

"And Zephyrus killed a troll." Neville pointed out. "Either way you guys have all proven that you are sadists and sociopaths."

Zephyrus raised his goblet of water. "Cheers."

Ethan laughed and raised his cup of cranberry juice, Lisa and raised hers as well.

Lisa smirked. "Keep hanging out with us and you will become one too!"

Ethan laughed. "He might end up like my sisters if we're not careful!"

"Did we hear right cousin?"

"You have sisters?"

Ethan looked up to see Fred and George who scooted down to get away from Percy. They were the only Weaselys he met that he could tolerate so far. Percy was what Zephyrus called 'a political leech' in the making.

"Yeah, I have three little sisters." Ethan replied as he counted off his hand. "The twins Irene, Caroline, and baby Amity."

"And why have you not spoken of these-"

"- little angels before dear cousin?"

Ethan shuddered. "Angels? Those three are hellions and Amity can barely speak!"

"Do you have a picture we could see?"

Ethan rustled in his robes pockets and pulled out an envelope of photos from Central when Fabian got promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in late August.

"That's Amity in Dad's arms." Ethan said pointing to the pig tailed infant with the strongest Ishvalan features in Fabian's arms trying to take his hat. "Irene (small cropped red haired girl) is in my arms, and Caroline (long red haired) with my Mom."

"Whose this guy?" Fred asked pointing to the one of Fabain saluting Alex.

"Blimey, is he sparkling?"

Zephyrus growled. "Ethan… why in the names of Heaven and Hell do you have a picture of my Uncle?"

The Twins gawked. "THAT'S YOUR UNCLE?"

"BLIMEY!" they gawked as they found of Alex and Ethan posing, the former had taken off his shirt. The twins were in the background cheering.

"Not even a year and he has corrupted you." Zephyrus said passively.

"What do you and your mom have against him?" Ethan asked.

Zephyrus sighed. "Officially, he is a disgrace to our name for disobeying orders from his chain of command. Unofficially, it's because he couldn't prevent that mad man from killing innocent bystanders in a firefight."

Lisa gawked. "Of course, when your Uncle tried to help them escape it was considered treasonous, if your mother publicly supported his actions she could have been charged with abetting to compete treason or conspiracy or even lose her command. Worse her life"

Zephyrus nodded mutely.

"So now dear cousin do you know-

"-why our Headmaster looks like he swallowed Fiendfyre?"

Ethan merely pointed at Zephyrus.

"Ah!" they said in unison. "That explains it."

"I'm surprised he picked a fight with a kid capable of murdering a troll with just a sword." Neville muttered.

Zephyrus just rolled his eyes. "Politics are a pain in the ass."

The Twins laughed.

"So what are you plans for the holidays?"

"Going home." Ethan replied. "Oh, and Dad said you two are welcomed to come since you actually contacted him without a Howler like your Mum."

"She didn't." the Twins gawked.

"She did, during a big important meeting with Lisa's foster dad and his team." Ethan replied. "Dad used magic to blast it out of the room. But any way, are you two coming?"

"Hell ya!" the Twins cheered.

"I'll drop by for your birthday." Lisa commented. She turned to Zephyrus. "I'll see if I can get permission to go to yours too Zephyrus."

Zephyrus merely shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

* * *

_ICE PRINCE ALCHEMIST_

_**-A week later-**_

Zephyrus watched as the train carrying his classmates and the Twins headed off to East City before heading on foot to the army outpost located in North City where he would be escorted up to the fort.

Outside were two men waiting for him. One was blond with blue eyes and the other was taller and had light tawny hair with deep violet eyes. The shorter one was trying to convince his friend to play another round of cards until he noticed Zephyrus.

"Good Afternoon Mr. Armstrong!" two soldiers said as they saluted him. They grinned then added: "What's up Squirt?"

Zephyrus just sighed. "You two are going to keep doing that aren't you?"

The two soldiers in question were Ivan Braginski and Alfred Jones. Both their families served in and around Briggs over the last couple of years. Ivan haven been raised by Alfred's family after his own were killed by smugglers near the Drachma border.

After the two officially enlisted with Northern Command the General assigned for them to be Zephyrus' guards.

"Come on Zephyr! It's not every day you get back from school! You said you were going to show us some magic tricks when you got back!" Alfred said practically jumping as he grabbed the younger boy's trunk. The blonde's blue eyes were shimmering with unleashed energy.

"Ivan…did he drink cola again?" Zephyrus said twitching at his nickname then looking at the tall silent teen. He remembered the last time that Alfred ingested a great deal of the sugary drink. It took Ivan, Zephyrus, half of the Development team, a third of the Briggs Bears team (including Buccaneer), and Miles; to find and subdue Alfred after he managed to 'borrow' a tank (that had no ammunition and only a quarter tank of fuel thankfully) and go on a wild chase through the mountains. They just barely managed to sneak it back into the fort unnoticed…or so they thought, but that is another story.

"Da Zephyrus." Ivan replied. "But he only drank one this time."

"I'M DRIVING SLOWPOKES!" Alfred yelled.

"HELL NO!" Ivan and Zephyrus screamed running after the hyper blonde in an attempt to beat him to the truck.

After five minutes of arguments, wrestling and Zephyrus threatening to freeze Alfred's lower extremities to the point where they would have to be amputated; Ivan was able to get behind the wheel. Alfred was pouting in the passenger's seat until Zephyrus handed him a box of assorted Wizard sweets that seemed to pacify him.

"Dude! This one tastes like fried chicken!" Alfred cheered as he pilfered a box of Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans.

"If you find vodka, let me know, da."

They arrived rather quickly at Briggs. Several of the soldiers both on duty and off; greeted the Ice Prince after being gone so long. After setting his things back in his room Zephyrus showed some of the off duty soldiers a few spells. Several of the younger soldiers loved the enchanted chess set, and Exploding Snap card decks. Lieutenant Hans of Development was intrigued with a Wizard radio Zephyrus had found in a room filled with lost items. He had no doubt by the end of the day it would be taken apart, and analyzed for the magic resistant technology that they had started working on.

Alfred was laughing hysterically as his hair was hexed six different colors.

"Dude! That is totally awesome!" Alfred snickered as his hair turned neon red.

"For all our sakes change it back before we go blind."

Zephyrus looked up to see Olivier entering with Miles.

"As you wish." Zephyrus said with a lazy flick of his wand.

"Good to know that they didn't end up in Xing after all." Miles commented to her.

"I think we would have known we've drove too far once we no longer saw snow."

"Or hit the desert."

"Or a panda." Ivan said suggestively.

"Or ran into the Emperor." Alfred cheered.

Zephyrus sent a mild stinging hex his way. Alfred yelped.

"DUDE! THAT WAS MEAN!" he snapped rubbing the pink skin on his arm.

Olivier raised a brow. "You said there was a security matter you wanted to talk about?"

Zephyrus sighed. "As you many of you have probably already heard, I'm apparently famous for offing some mass murderer as a baby in England."

"Not even out of the cradle and he's destroying the enemy." Someone muttered.

"It's like he was destined to be the Ice Queen's heir." Another added while shuddering.

"Because of that several have…an unhealthy obsession with me and are possibly either planning my death or a way to force me to stay in England in order to support their own political agenda."

"They do realize that since you're my son that could lead to an international incident right?" Olivier replied.

"I know. But they have spells that force you to fall under the control. One is called the Imperius Curse; it takes away your self-control and turns you into a mindless puppet following the casters' command. Another is the Memory Charm; it erases memories of a certain event or time span. Either way they might attempt to use one to force you to sign over parental rights."

Olivier frowned, as did many in the hall.

"Lastly…and this one I think might be the worst, I found that there is a potion called the Polyjuice potion. It can give someone the physical form of another for an hour. Provided they have a piece of that person; such as a strand of hair and know who they are masquerading as, they can go anywhere undetected. It's a perfect way for a spy to infiltrate our ranks."

Olivier looked pensive for a moment. "From now one all of us will have a password we will have to give when returning from England or an unexplained absence. This password will change every month. For now it will be the name of our former Briggs Bear captain."

"Yes General!" several called out.

"Well, now that has been settled what is this I hear about you taking on a mountain troll?"

Zephyrus bit on his lip then explained to her the situation that had occurred on Halloween. This caused several of the soldiers to laugh.

"That's our Prince for ya!"

"Kicking ass, and taking names!"

"That's the Briggs way!"

"Things never change!"

Olivier smirked. "Well, I guess this means that you have kept in top form. So I won't put you through drills…tonight."

* * *

_Ice Prince Alchemist_

The rest of the holidays passed rather smoothly until Zephyrus' birthday. To Olivier's dismay Roy, Hawkeye, and Lisa portkeyed in with the Prewetts and the Twins for the party. Alex arrived at the same time bearing gifts from the family.

Upon meeting Olivier; Fred and George screamed, fell onto the floor, and begged her not to kill them, that they would surrender to her quote 'awesome scariness' causing many to laugh.

While the adults chatted/argued the younger ones, minus Amity, went outside with Ivan and Alfred escorting them.

"So, to the toboggan run Zephyrus?" Ivan asked.

"Sure, we have enough snow and ice." Zephyrus replied as they went to the hills that sloped down towards the main road back to Briggs.

"Err, is this safe?" Fred asked.

"Of course." Zephyrus said as he and Ivan pulled two large toboggans out from a hidden shelter. "I've been on these hills since I was smaller than Caroline and Irene."

Comforted a bit the Twins got in the toboggan with Ethan and Irene while the Lisa and Caroline got on Zephyrus's. They were all screaming as they began to descend the slick slopes and curves. Zephyrus was just grinning the entire time.

This was his sport after all.

When they reached the edge of the road the twins jumped out and nearly lost their entire breakfast in the brush.

"Be sure to cover that up when you're done. You don't want to attract any of the bears, da." Ivan commented as he and Alfred slid down on snowboards.

"You two can handle brooms but not this?" Lisa asked with amusement, she was promptly silenced by a snowball to the head.

Growling she turned to see Zephyrus and the younger girls holding balls of snow.

"Snowball fight anyone?" he asked with a grin that promised pain.

"Gred-"

"-Yes Forge?"

"I think we have been had."

Olivier smirked as the group came back to the fort. All but Zephyrus looked like they had been caught in a snow drift. Fabian just laughed and gave them all some of the Pepper-Up potion he had brought with him.

"I take it you all foolishly accepted my son's challenges for a snowball fight?" Olivier asked with amusement.

Zephyrus just cackled.

The rest of the evening went well. Zephyrus was shocked over the number of gifts he had gotten this year. A new set of throwing knives from Miles, a dragon hide vest from the Prewetts, three books on elemental alchemy from the Elrics as well as a note saying that Fuhrer Grumman had sent them to Spain to help look for Flamel, and a book on engineering from Winry and Granny Pinako. Neville had sent him book on famous duelists.

Oliver's gift, was giving Zephyrus permission to use rocket launchers and a tank in combat.

Now to many this would seem to be an unfair gift, but those who knew Olivier well realized that this meant she trusted him to be able to hold his own in battle and let him closer to the front lines if necessary.

The Twins had managed to wrangle him a rare book of potions that could range from volatile destruction, to a good joke.

Fabian quickly grabbed the book and gave it to Olivier who looked like Christmas had come early when she read the table of contents.

"I'm not going to ask how you two got that, but it stays in the General's hands. The last thing we need is for Zephyrus to blow up the school." Fabian said trying to ignoring Olivier's evil grin and laugh as a sign he may have triggered the apocalypse.

"Would that really be so bad?" Zephyrus asked.

There was a mix cry of 'Yes' and 'No' from the guests.

Zephyrus just sighed. "Fine, then I shall pacify my need for a battle by taking on whatever death challenge that Old Bastard has on the third floor."

This peeked everyone's interest.

"What death challenge?" Roy asked.

"The Old Geezers told us at the beginning of the year about not going onto the third floor unless we want to die." Ethan explained.

"You didn't tell us sooner because-?"

"We suspected our mail was being watched." Lisa answered.

"That's why your letters were always so short." Riza commented.

Olivier just sighed. "Why do I have a feeling I need to go kill that man soon?"

"Because you probably will." Roy and Fabian answered.

The bag of gifts Alex had brought were mostly books on engineering from his grandfather and a light blue marble egg the size of a chicken egg from Antoinette and the girls that they had found in Xing.

"Why an egg?" Olivier asked. Her mother never gave Zephyrus anything sensible other than etiquette, and violin lessons. (Apparently Antoinette Armstrong was determined to pass on the gift of musical talent to someone who wouldn't destroy the instrument).

"I'm not sure. She and Catherine found it in an antique shop, and just felt it was meant for him." Alex replied as Zephyrus picked it up.

Only to have it start glowing in his hands.

"What the Hell?" Zephyrus said as the egg started to hatch. The light faded revealing a small white bird with light blue and silver plumage, but what stood out was its long tail that seemed to be glittering with lights. It looked up at Zephyrus and chirped.

Amity giggled. "Birdie!"

"It's a phoenix." Fabian gasped. "That means…that was an honest to God phoenix egg!"

"It doesn't look anything like the Dumbledore's phoenix." Fred said as the little bird chirped happily in Zephyrus's hands.

"It's silver, not a fiery gold." George added.

"Fawkes is a fire phoenix." Fabian explained. "This little one is an ice phoenix. They are smaller in size, the largest no bigger than the average song bird, but rumored to have more effective healing tears."

"Healing tears?" Riza asked.

"Phoenix are strange, and powerful creatures. They can teleport you; care immensely heavy loads, and sing melodies that can cheer up the most depressed people. But what make them so powerful are their tears that can heal wounds and cure someone from the deadliest poison." Fabian explained. "Unfortunately until this little one gets bigger it will not be able to produce any."

"You really know a lot about phoenixes."

Fabian just laughed. "I'm no expert. I just remembered what I've read, and what Dumbledore told me when I had to research the subject for Care of Magical Creatures."

"So what are you going to name it?" Ivan asked as the little phoenix's chirps became louder and it started to flap its wings creating rainbow sparkles much to Alex's and Amity's enjoyment.

"Is it male or female?"

"It has no crown feather, so it's a female."

Zephyrus paused. "I believe Valkyrie would suit nicely."

Newly christened Valkyrie chirped and flew up on his shoulder.

* * *

**OMAKE inspired by **Unseene

"Zephyrus, do you have any plans before returning to school?"

"I'm going to try and make this basic healing potion to help replenish blood loss." Her son answered. "It should come in handy on the field."

Olivier nodded. "I'll help."

Miles and Zephyrus paled.

"…Mother a-re you sure…do we really want a repeat of my fourth birthday?" Zephyrus said hesitantly.

Olivier snorted in amusement. "Please, this Potion making cannot be that hard."

"…Miles, I'm leaving Valkyrie with you."

The little phoenix chirped in agreement then settled on the officer's desk.

"We should wear helmets just in case." Olivier said retrieving them from her desk.

-An hour later a loud explosion shook the foundation of the fort-

Several soldiers raced down to the sixth floor with Miles in the lead. They got their just in time to see both the General and Zephyrus get sent flying out and crashing into the wall upside down starfish style then slide to the floor.

"What happened?" Miles asked helping them up.

"Mother tried to help me with my potions assignment." Zephyrus answered shaking his head. His helmet laid on the floor cracked. "I think we added too much iron dust."

Olivier just grinned evilly "At least now we have a new explosive we can use. Have the EOD team collect what's left."

The Briggs explosive team just wanted to cry.

**Character Profiles**

_Abigail Prewett - March 17_

_Age: 32_

_Short white hair and light red/brown eyes_

_Caroline Prewett_ – April 1

Age 4

-Long red hair with powder blue eyes.

_Irene Prewett_- April 1

Age 4

-Short red hair with dark blue eyes.

_Amity Prewett_ – November 8

Age 2

White hair with red eyes.


	6. 3rd Floor

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Ch. 5 – The 3rd Floor

_CLANG!_

_CLANG!_

_CLANG!_

_CLANG!_

Several Briggs soldiers watched in awe as their General and Zephyrus sparred with their swords. Neither of the participants seemed out of breath, despite the fight going on for several minutes. Their blows were almost evenly matched, and neither managed to land a blow.

Miles stood off to the side with Valkyrie perched on his shoulder.

Everyone stood in awe as sparks flew from the blades colliding. Neither Armstrong was holding back in this simple drill.

After all, this was how it was taught in the Armstrong family for generations.

Oliver slashed towards his shoulder. Zephyrus dodged at an angle and used a feint to cut at her waist which she blocked with ease then disarmed him so fast he fell on the floor. He braced himself on his hands and used his momentum to sweep her feet out from under her. Olivier caught herself on her left hand and then flipped herself back her up then placed her sword's blade at his throat.

"Do yield?"

Zephyrus huffed. "I yield."

"Not bad." Olivier commented as she sheathed her deadly blade. "Nice to know that you are willing to keep fighting. Even after being disarmed."

Zephyrus just huffed. "Of course. I'm not one of those stick wielding idiots who believe that once they lose their weapon that the battle is over."

Valkyrie whistled in agreement then hopped off Miles and hovered over and carried Zephyrus' sword back to him. The small hatchling could only carry it a foot off the ground.

"Thank you." Zephyrus said to his baby phoenix. It chirped then hopped up his arm then settled on his shoulder. "You're getting better; you'll be able to fly soon enough Valkyrie."

"You better go to sleep Zephyrus. You leave for Britain in the morning." Miles commented.

"Yes _Father_." Zephyrus replied as he saw the man twitch. "Whatever you say; _Father_. I'll be a good boy and go to my room now F-."

"Zephyrus." Olivier warned.

"I'm leaving. Goodnight Mother, Major Miles." Zephyrus said with a polite nod of his head as he left to go to his quarters.

Olivier sighed. "Where did I go wrong with that boy?"

"Pardon?"

"That cheek, I never allowed him to get away with that when he was younger and he still does it." Olivier huffed. "Just when I think I got it out of him his smart mouth appears again."

Miles just smiled. "Well there are some traits that make us who we are. But I want to say it's something from his birth parents. A very stubborn trait if you can't destroy it. Then again he did hang around Buccaneer a lot."

Olivier groaned.

"But look on the bright side."

"What bright side?"

Miles just smirked. "At least he knows when to keep it shut."

Olivier grumbled. "Shut up Miles before I have to explain to my son why I murdered his _father _in his sleep."

"Then again, the trait might be from you." Miles muttered as he sped walked out of the room.

Zephyrus about to lay down on his bed was when Fawkes flamed into his room.

"Hello. What brings you here so late?" Zephyrus asked the phoenix. Valkyrie chirped enthusiastically and hopped over to the larger bird.

While Zephyrus un-wrapped the unmarked package the bird had brought with the precision of a explosive ordinance disposal union, Valkyrie was getting what he hoped was a lesson on flying from Fawkes.

"What the Hell is this?" Zephyrus said aloud as he looked at the silver cloak that was in the package along with a shred of parchment.

_Your father left this in my care. Use it well._

Zephyrus eyed the letter in curiosity. Going on instinct that Buccaneer had drilled into him about anonymous packages, he casted a quick detection spell on the cloak and found a tracking spell on it.

"That bastard!" Zephyrus snarled as he blasted the spell off using more force than necessary. He hissed as the excess magic burned his hand.

"Damn it!" his hissed.

Fawkes flew over and cried on to his hand. Zephyrus watched in fascination as the tears healed the injured skin.

"Thank you." Zephyrus said as he petted the grand bird. "I know you can't do anything to control that idiot's actions, so I will not hold you responsible."

-Ice Prince Alchemist-

The next day Zephyrus boarded the underground express that would take them underneath Europe, and back to England. The Twins fell asleep as they passed under Bulgaria. Upon stepping out from the embassy Zephyrus was happy that he was wearing his military issued winter coat. It did a better job of keeping him warm then that cloak. When they arrived at King's Cross Zephyrus watched from near a pillar as Lisa was confronted by the Malfoys.

"You do realize nothing you do or say will get me to live with you." Lisa snapped before they could get a single word out. "My mother stated in her will I am not to have anything to do with your family, nor am I allowed into your custody, nor that of any one who may associate with you. A copy has been registered with Gringotts as well."

Lucius winced. His sister did everything she could to keep him away from his only niece who looked a great deal like his sister.

"We just wanted to see you maybe a day or two, so that if you decide to stay in England." Narcissa started to say.

Lisa frowned. "Why would I want to stay in a community that demeans the female gender and control their futures just because they were not born male? Aunt Narcissa, I was raised to be a strong and _independent_ woman. The thought of being forced into a marriage or lifestyle I do not desire just because he (Lisa pointed at Lucius) says so is enough to make me vomit. I can see why my mother risked a miscarriage in order to prevent me from being born into a form of subjected slavery."

Narcissa felt that comment like a slap to the face. She had to agree with Lisa on that. After all it had only been luck that she and Lucius fancied each other before their marriage was arranged. Most were not as lucky.

Lisa took a deep breath and sighed. "Just please respect her last wishes and I won't set my cousin on fire again."

"Aren't you even going to apologize for that?" Draco asked.

Lisa just glared at him. "No. How else will I keep my idiot cousin from saying something so stupid to me again? I swear; you are almost as bad as that black hole Ron."

"Am not!"

Seeing she could handle herself just fine Zephyrus boarded the train after slipping Lisa his butterfly knife.

When they arrived at the castle Ethan put on earplugs as Ron began to whine about not being invited with them. Fred and George put in their own earplugs and went to show Percy the pictures of the vacation and a letter Fabian had written to the teen.

The return to Hogwarts was quiet. No one had found Quirrell, many speculated that he had bled out to death. Unable to find a replacement the instructors were rotating on teaching the practical lessons.

After hearing the Twins' attempt to gather intelligence on the third floor being blocked by Filtch, so did Ethan. Finally Zephyrus tried his hand at it. To his surprise he met no guards or Filtch and he wasn't even wearing his strange invisibility cloak.

"How peculiar." Zephyrus muttered as he observed the hall. He opened the door a crack and looked in. He looked up and saw a large three headed dog. He immediately closed the door and sped walked back to the Raven Tower.

He searched the shelves of books that covered the walls of the common room and finally found the book of rare and dangerous magical creatures.

**_The Cerberus is a three headed dog native to the Greek island of Crete and the area around the former city of Sparta. They are considered to be the strongest and most loyal of guard dogs known to wizard kind. They are extremely foul tempered when it comes to thieves. Have been rumored to devour the bodies of those who attempt to steal the rare treasures they protect. _**

Zephyrus snarled in disgust and slammed the book shut.

"What the Hell is this doing in the school?" he hissed then headed up to his dorm room. He had a letter he needed to write.

* * *

**-Barcelona, Spain-**

Ed was looking at the city as he was escorted by his guard to Flamel's house. Zephyrus' last letter was alarming. A restricted floor guarded by a three headed dog. And according to Zephyrus' spies this was the Headmaster's idea. If this beast was guarding something for Flamel…then this was going to get dangerous.

It took a while just to track the man down since he used so many aliases over the seven hundred years he was alive. It didn't help any that Dumbledore used his influence as Supreme Mugwump or whatever it was to help him get away with never registering properly with Spain as a magical citizen or with the mundane. It took the intelligence division of the King's Regiment a good part of December through January just to locate his home.

Al was in Madrid explaining the bloody history of the Philosopher's stone to the King and President of the Government, both mundane and magical. They were angry with Dumbledore and Flamel, especially after Al discovered what appeared to be the remnants of a blood crest on various cobble stones in the middle of the plaza outside the government building.

It confirmed that Flamel had at one point, taken advantage of a bloody battle inside the country to create a stone.

'_So have either one stone or one homonculus on our hands.'_ Ed thought.

"Hey, Lieutenant Jostanos?"

"Yes Fullmetal?" answered his driver.

"Have you worked for the military for long?" Ed asked trying to make idle chit chat.

"For about sixteen years next month. I enlisted after completing my education at La Rosa magic academy." Jostanos answered. "Because of my defensive magic skills I was appointed to the King's Regiment."

"Oy! Sonic, we're here." His partner Lieutenant Gabriella Cortez said pointing to a small villa on the outskirts of Costa Brava.

Jostanos stopped the car at the gate. While he and Ed surveyed the exterior Cortez went to talk to the neighbors who were at the fountain nearby talking.

"No sign of activity inside."

"He hasn't been here in a month according to the neighbors." Cortez said coming back.

"What about his wife?" Ed asked.

Cortez frowned. "They said he never had a wife."

"Okay, that is either bull or that biography of his is lying." Ed said as he approached the door. With a clap of his hands he weakened the lock and let the door swing open.

Both officers drew their guns and entered first. After clearing the top floor they let Ed in.

"It's empty."

Ed looked around. "This is strange."

"What is Fullmetal?"

"An alchemist usually keeps a journal or an office space to conduct research." Ed said as he looked around the bare house. "But there is no kind of literature here or writing tools. Not even a magazine."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning either he took all his research with him, this place is a rouse, or his study is hidden." Ed said walking around. He paused as his automail leg hit a loose board under a shaggy rug. He pulled aside the rug and discovered a trap door. "Hey guys."

Cortez pulled open the door. They were hit by the smell of blood and filth. Jostanos shone his flashlight down there revealing a bloodstained stone floor and what appeared to be the partial mangled corpse of a toddler.

"Ay Dios." Jostanos said as he and Cortez made a cross over their chests.

Cortez took out her radio and called headquarters. "This is Lieutenant. Cortez. We need a forensic team and M.E. to Costa Brava at the Flamel villa."

Ed covered his lower face with a handkerchief and slowly climbed down.

"Fullmetal, wait!"

When Ed reached the bottom he carefully walked around the corpse. He looked around and found Flamel's desk which was old and cracked with a few scraps of parchments with partial transmutation circles drawn on them. He found a hidden door and pulled it open.

"Oh dear God."

There in the small annexed room were large cages holding dead mismatched animals. In the corner was a pile of torn and ragged children's clothing. Clothes that were new and old, male and female, even some that appeared to be from a private school they had passed in Barcelona. Ed shuddered as he realized that these were chimeras that had been created from children.

"_Papa_?"

Ed slowly turned and found a little girl with big yellow eyes, claws, a cat tail and ears wearing only a stained pajama dress. Her yellow eyes were dimming and her skin was ghost white. She was only skin and bones. She couldn't have been more than four years old.

He immediately had a flash back of Nina and Alexander.

"_Papa? Mama?"_

Ed quickly broke the lock and wrapped her in his jacket.

"_Todo va estar bien. Ya nos vamous*."_ Ed whispered to her as he carried her to the ladder. "Cortez, Jostanos, I got a live one!"

Jostanos stuck his head down and saw the child barely conscious in Ed's arms.

"Santa Maria." He gasped.

With a quick wave of his wand Jostanos levitated them up. Cortez gasped as she recognized the girl.

"Jostanos! That's one of the twenty kids that went missing from Madrid last year."

Jostanos paled and quickly called for an ambulance.

As soon as the ambulance arrived Ed carried the child to the paramedics, not wanting to be in the house any longer. A Healer had tagged along with them. She started swearing as she did a magic scan on the girl and saw that not only was the girl stuck with those Chimera features, that she had been denied a great deal of food and water since her kidnapping.

"We're going to take her to St. Anne hospital." The Healer said as she placed the girl under a stasis spell. She was mentally swearing to put away her pacifistic ideals for a bit in order to beat up the bastard that did this to the girl. "We'll inform the family after we identify her."

Ed nodded and watched the ambulance pull away. Turning back to the villa he shuddered as the scene was so reminiscent to when they discover what Shou Tucker had done.

"Time to call Al."

-Ice Prince Alchemist-

Zephyrus received Ed's letter at dinner. When he reached the part about Flamel's lab and his experiments on chimeras; he wanted to go and shoot the Headmaster between his twinkling blue eyes right in front of everyone.

But he had to refrain from that. He needed to get whatever he was hiding for Flamel. If it was a true Philosopher's stone then they would need to take it.

The accursed stone would be a hundred times more dangerous in the hands of a wizard then in an alchemist. Like with alchemy it would amplify the person's power, something no one wanted to see in a government by corrupt. Luckily alchemy in the Wizarding World was a nearly forgotten branch, and none of them knew of the stone's powers beyond immortality and the ability to make gold.

So a plan was made between the Amestrians and the Twins. At approximately midnight they would rendezvous on the third floor and steal the item. Peeves had agreed to keep all other people away until the mission was complete.

How he did it in a way that the poltergeist agreed without bribery and just a smirk was a mystery that the Twins were furiously trying to solve.

"Guns?"

"Check."

"Radios."

"Check."

"Wands, exploding potion, smoke bombs?"

"Check, check, and check."

"Ropes?"

"Check."

"First aid kit?"

"Check."

"Ham and Swiss cheese sandwich?"

"Check- Wait what?"

Fred and George looked at their cousin with wide eyes as he tucked a plastic wrapped sandwich into his knapsack.

"Why a sandwich?" they asked in unison.

"Because; we might get hungry during the mission, and it's better than ration bars." Ethan explained happily as if bringing a sandwich on a life or death mission made sense.

Lisa just sighed. "Ignore him. I found that more than a majority of his harebrained schemes actually work. No matter how crazy they sound."

'_Like slipping Ron a sleeping potion.' _

"Oy!"

"And where do you think you're going?" snapped a snooty voice.

"Crap." Lisa swore as they turned to see their fellow first year Hermione Granger.

"Hello Hermione. Shouldn't you be asleep right now?" Lisa said dryly. She and the girl were often at odds because they were both outcasts among the first year girls so to speak, and Lisa's grades were often better than hers in Charms.

"I should be saying the same for you four. You're going to break curfew and get us in trouble again aren't you?" Hermione huffed as she climbed down.

"When have I ever gotten Gryffindor in trouble?" Lisa snapped.

"You set someone on fire!" Hermione exasperated.

'_And I'm about to do it again!'_

"I got this one." Ethan whispered to Lisa as she made to grab her wand, then he approached Hermione. "Hey Hermione, if there was a mad man going around killing hundreds of people wouldn't you want to stop it if you had the power to do so?"

"Well…yes-"

"And if the only clue to finding him was nearby, wouldn't you take the opportunity to grab it?" Ethan asked wrapping an arm around her and led her to a chair by the fire.

"Y-yes."

"Have you heard of Nicolas Flamel?"

"He's a friend of the Headmaster and created the Philosopher's stone." Hermione replied. Her eyes widen as she made the connection. "You mean that the stone is here?"

Ethan nodded.

"But why-"

"I hate to break you beliefs here, but do you know what the main ingredient for creating the stone is?"

"No."

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "Its human lives."

Hermione paled. "No, that can't be right."

"It is. Last year a man tried to destroy our country to make one." Lisa snapped. "My mom was killed trying to stop them."

"So you see, if the stone really is here, then that means Flamel is a killer, and Dumbledore may be a co-conspirator." Ethan added. "Do you understand? We need to find out."

Hermione nodded. "What can I do to help?"

"Don't tell anyone that we left. We'll be back before sunrise." Ethan said walking out the portrait hole. He pointed his wand over his shoulder and muttered _"Stupefy."_

"Do you think that she'll really listen?"

"Nope, but let's hope that we have at least put a seed of doubt in her." Ethan replied. "But just in case I stunned her."

Zephyrus was waiting for them with Neville on the third floor.

"Are you guys ready?"

"Ready."

"Peeves is created a distraction for us in the west wing, so we'll have at least an hour unhindered." Zephyrus said sternly as they approached the door. "You ready?"

"Set."

Zephyrus took a canister filled with a sickly yellow liquid and tossed it into the room, then slammed the door shut. The second it hit the floor the canister exploded and the liquid became gaseous. Zephyrus waited until they heard a loud thud before he opened the door again, revealing the knocked out Cerberus.

"Bloody Hell, what was that?"

"A variation of knockout gas and flash bomb meant to take out large bears in the Briggs Mountains." Zephyrus replied as they entered.

"Uh guys, this thing is laying over a door." Neville said as he looked under the Cerberus' stomach.

"Now what?"

Zephyrus clapped his hands then slammed his hands on the floor creating a door. He used the stones he moved to create a few grips in case they need to repel down.

"Shall we?"

"I don't see anything." Ethan said leaning cautiously over the side.

Neville took out his wand. "_Lumos Maxima_."

The room below was illuminated, revealing a large tentacle like plant that creped away from the light and further into its dark cavern.

"Bloody Hell." The twins gasped.

"What the Hell is that?" Lisa asked uneasily.

"Neville?"

"Devil's Snare. It strangles anything that touches it. It can be weakened by fire."

"Oh! I got it!" Lisa said a little too cheerfully as she tugged on her ignition gloves a snapped at the plant.

The Twins and Neville gawked as a large fireball shoot out from her fingertips. When the fire died out, the plant was a pile of smoking ash.

"Shall we gentlemen?" Lisa asked fishing out a rope from her bag and tied it to one of the ledges.

The boys all exchanged a look. Ethan waited until Zephyrus and Lisa repelled down before speaking.

"We must never piss her off." Ethan commented. "She's had an unhealthy obsession with fire since we were eight and her foster father is not helping."

"I heard that." Lisa said from down below.

After crossing through the plant's ash (though Neville paused when he found a viable seed pod and pocketed it) they made their way to the next door.

"Do you hear something?"

"Something is moving." Zephyrus said holding an ear to the door. He drew his gun and cautiously opened the door….

Revealing a room full of flying keys.

"Flying keys…"

"Bloody Hell."

"Not imaginative are they?"

"You would think it would be something harder." Ethan said observing all the keys flying around.

Zephyrus glared at the door. He was tempted to use alchemy to take it down, but the door and the wall seemed to pulse with magic. Apparently according to a book on magical creatures, those who raise a phoenix hatchling become more sensitive to magic pulses so they can tell if the hatchling is becoming ill.

Lisa must have noticed as well and started to glare at the door as well.

"Breaking down the door is out of the question. It's being held up by magic."

Ethan winced. "That's not good."

"Why can't you just do what you did upstairs?"

"What I did was alchemy. Alchemy and Magic don't mix well." Zephyrus explained.

Ethan nodded. "We tried to test it over the summer. The reaction is like matter and antimatter colliding."

"In other words it's very dangerous." Lisa explained for the purebloods.

'_And I doubt that a Philosopher's Stone would change that at all.'_ Zephyrus thought as he looked at the key hole to see if he could pick the lock. But it too was shrouded by a spell that zapped his skin as he touched it.

"The key is old." Zephyrus said looking into the key hole. "Maybe two teeth by the looks of it."

"Up there!" Neville said pointing it out.

"So any ideas?"

"Besides shooting down the key?" Lisa added as Zephyrus reached for his gun.

"Well, there is a broom here." Ethan said motioning to a broom beside the door.

"An obvious set up." Zephyrus said as he stopped the twins from touching it.

"You're really paranoid Zephyrus."

Zephyrus just frowned. "What? You don't find it weird that in a room of flying keys there just _happens_ to be a broomstick?"

Fred and George shared a look. "It can't be that easy?"

"He makes a good point."

"But we made it this far."

"What?"

George raised his wand. "_Accio Key_."

To their shock the key shot into George's hands.

The twins stared at the key. "Gred I'm scared."

"Me too Forge. If the professors set this up…"

"There should be no way we could have gotten this far." Zephyrus said unlocking the door.

On their way out Neville accidentally touched the broom, causing the keys to hurtle at them like daggers. They all jumped out of the room and slammed the door shut just at the thick wood was embedded with keys.

"You know, I'm glad we didn't use that broom to try and catch the key."

The group kept on moving and stood in shock at the sight of a giant chessboard.

"Please don't tell me we have to play our way across." Ethan asked the pieces.

One of the Bishop statutes nodded.

"Choose your King and take your places."

The group immediately looked at Zephyrus.

"Oh come on!"

"We know you want to fight-"

"-But you are our fearless leader!"

"Oh Captain my Captain!"

Zephyrus grimaced then hissed in a demonic voice. "Fine."

Twenty minutes later Zephyrus strolled through the rubble of what were once the white chess pieces.

"Remind me not to piss him off in the future."

SMASH!

"YES! ROUND TWO!" a very happy sounding Zephyrus yelled from the next room. It was soon followed by a clash of metal and psychotic laughter.

"Err… let's wait a minute."

"…I wish we had popcorn."

"Well, I have a ham and Swiss sandwich." Ethan offered.

"No thanks."

After the fighting died down they went in and saw that Zephyrus had thrown the troll into what was once a wall of fire.

"That's two obstacles down now." Lisa commented as they passed an overturned table of potions and various other liquids.

Pausing to stare at a troll stuck into the walls, they approached a large mirror standing innocently in the middle of the otherwise empty room.

"Well this is anticlimactic." Ethan deadpanned.

"So what now?"

"I know!" Lisa said enthusiastically as she ran up to the mirror with her eyes closed. "Mirror, mirror on the wall where is that blasted stone?"

"Well?"

Lisa opened her eyes. All she saw was herself with her mother. Her mother smiled at her then held up a red stone then slipped it into her daughter's jacket pocket. Lisa stuck her hand in her pocket and took it out.

"How did you get it?" the twins asked.

"No idea." Lisa said as she handed it to Zephyrus.

Zephyrus looked at it in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"There is no energy in this stone."

"What?"

"It's a fake?"

**To Be Continued**

* * *

_**OMAKE – How Zephyrus controls Peeves**_

After the first day of lessons Zephyrus followed Lisa and Ethan to their common room for a group study session. Ethan had dragged Neville with them, begging him to show him how to work his 'awesome green thumb' because this 'poor boy of the desert' was afraid he would be strangled by an innocently looking flower if he said the wrong word.

"Prewett, has anyone ever told you that you are mentally disturbed?" Zephyrus said dryly as Ethan made a suggestion of something involving bad tuna, a sock, the Twins, and a bungee cord to Ron in order to get the idiot to move away from the portrait door.

"Well an Elder did but he took it back after the incident with a rapist, a sack of lingerie, a mannequin, matches, and an oil drum." Ethan piped all too cheerfully.

"Creepy." Neville and Lisa deadpanned.

"Ickle Shady!"

Ethan swore under his breath as Peeves popped into the Common Room.

"Shady! Give me your dark specs!" Peeves said holding a paper sword.

"NEVER!" Ethan yelled taking a stance on a couch holding a rolled parchment like a sword. Thus began an epic fight paper sword fight between Ishvalan and ghost.

At least it was epic until….

Ethan and Peeves found themselves just barely grazed by a wave of very sharp knives, six which pinned Ethan to the floor. They both turned and saw Zephyrus with a murderous look holding several more knives in his hands.

"If you two don't stop, I am going to find out if it is possible to torture and kill the dead!" Zephyrus said giving them a blood thirsty look that would have made his mother proud.

"Yes Sir." They whimpered.

* * *

OMAKE- How Ethan & Lisa Met

"Mom, why do we have to move to Central?" Ethan asked as he helped unpack the girl's belonging in their small apartment.

"Because, the tensions are still high in Ishval." Abigail replied. "Not everyone there believes that your father sympathizes with them because he works for the military."

"I see." Ethan said handing Amity her toy rabbit.

"Mommy! There's someone at the door!" Irene and Caroline called as they ran in.

"I got it." Ethan said as he stood up. When he opened the door there was a girl his age with platinum blonde hair holding a plate of cookies.

"Hi, my name is Lisa, Lisa Malfoy. I'm your neighbor in 239." She said curtly before handing him the cookies. "Welcome to the neighborhood."

Ethan felt a chill go down his spine. Whether or not he knew it then; but there was a fire burning behind this girl's eyes.

***Translations***

_Todo va estar bien. Ya nos vamous_ – Everything will be okay. We're leaving now.

**SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT EVERYONE! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**


	7. Wannabe Casanova

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Ch. 6 Wannabe Casanova

"What is the Second Law of Alchemy?"

"In order for the alchemy to be successful, the Alchemist must have an understanding of the structure's matter. Therefore they must understand the matter as a whole." Zephyrus replied as he observed the passing scenery from the train's window. His summer training with the Elrics had gone rather well.

After the term ended he had taken a flight to meet the brothers in Spain to help track down Flamel while Lisa and Ethan headed back to Amestris. The three alchemists examined the false Philosopher's Stone. they found it to be just a simple ruby that had some kind of spell put on it to make it feel like it had power. At least that's how it would feel to a run of the mill magic user. But an alchemist would not feel the energy at all.

After this they worked with the Spanish to try and find Flamel. Regretfully they hit several dead ends from having to track down numerous alias, but they did find out that he was no longer in Spain. They did find that he had killed over sixty children in his chimera experiments across the country over the last five years, that including the twenty that were found in Barcelona. All of which to their horror were muggleborn or mundane.

While the forensic team had been clearing out the bodies they also found a seven year old boy with reptilian features (a tail and scales around his reptilian like brown eyes) who managed to put himself in a hibernated state by curling up in the coldest part of the room behind a pile of corpses in order to survive.

The children; Victoria and Mateo were regretfully abandoned by their parents almost immediately when they saw their animorphic features. Not wanting them to become a ward of the state or another madman's experiment, Al contacted the last person they would have expected him to call willingly for help. Izumi Curtis.

In less than twenty four hours Izumi and her husband Sig arrived via Portkey with Fabian to adopt the two children. They saw pass the nonhuman features and took them in as their own.

When they arrived to report in Zephyrus was informed that Central had come across Isaac McDougal's notes on water and ice alchemy so they focused on working on the deconstruction and reconstruction for a majority of the summer in South City and Aquroya . It took a majority of July for Zephyrus to just figure out how to pull moisture from the air to create water and convert it completely into ice with out a transmutation circle. He succeeded, but could only deconstruct and reconstruct only in small amounts before suffering from exhaustion.

The first time he successfully completed it he was unconscious for two days.

"What is the Law of Equivalent Exchange?"

"Man cannot obtain anything without sacrificing something in return. In order to obtain anything something of equal value is required." Zephyrus recited. It was the rule that the Elrics practically beat into his head.

Ed closed his book. "Well Zephyrus, I think that you can pass the practical written exam without a problem. As long as you remember the laws you should do okay on that part."

"Considering that Mustang gave me the basic guide to alchemy when I was around five, I've had years to memorize it." Zephyrus sighed as he followed the brothers off the train. Ivan was there waiting with the car.

They were about to enter Briggs when an owl screech drew their attention. They looked up to see a large barn owl flying their way. Zephyrus stretched out his arm

"Well, I got my book list for second term." Zephyrus said as he carried in the owl from the cold. The team gave the sentries their password and then proceeded up to Olivier's office to report in.

Zephyrus placed the owl on Valkyrie's perch by his mother's desk. The phoenix was at the moment was having fun flying around in the blizzard.

"What's that?" Olivier asked as he opened the letter the owl had clutched in his talons.

"My book list for the new term…Son of a-"

"What's wrong?"

"Just look at this!" Zephyrus scoffed as he handed her the list.

**SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:**

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 2) by Miranda Goshawk_

_Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart_

"Who the Hell is Gilderory Lockhart?" Ed asked as he looked over the General's shoulder.

"We can find out Saturday. I got permission to go on leave so I can take you to London." Olivier said as she finished writing.

"Will the others be coming as well?"

"No, they apparently can't make it until Sunday."

"She looked at the Elrics. "The Fuher also gave permission for you two to tag along in case you come across a lead of some sort."

"Don't you mean cause Unholy Mayhem?"

"No, but that is an added bonus." Olivier said with a shrug.

* * *

*=*Ice Prince Alchemist*=*

"It's really crowded here." Ed commented as the four approached Flourish & Blotts. "I wonder what's going on."

"There's a book signing apparently." Al said pointing to a large banner hanging up.

**GILDEROY LOCKHART**

**will be signing copies of his autobiography**

**MAGICAL ME**

**today 12:30 PM – 4:30 PM**

"At least we can see if the man's work is worth purchasing." Olivier commented.

"…Suddenly I am not so confident in that." Zephyrus commented as he watched the man practically flaunt himself in front of the fans, mostly women, as he strutted to the table, flashing his bright shiny teeth.

"He's like a peacock." Olivier commented dryly as she skimmed the books he was promoting. A paragraph in and she felt like gagging over the narcissistic writing. She placed it back on the pile then skimmed _Travels with Trolls_. Once again she felt like gagging.

They four hung out in the back as the gaggle of witches pushed their way through to get his autograph. Olivier realized why Mustang and Prewett said they were not going until the next day.

'_Those bastards should have warned me!'_ Olivier growled and her dark murderous aura manifested, making the wizards around her fidget.

"Excuse me, excuse, coming through. Watch it little boy, this is for the_ Daily Prophet."_ Shouted a wizard with a bulky camera as he pushed Ed and Al into Zephyrus.

Ed twitched as he turned around. "Who are you calling little?"

"Calm down Fullmetal. Don't lose your temper so easily."

The teens stared at her.

Lockhart raised his hand for silence then, if humanly possible, his grin got even larger. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce today that I will be taking up the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this term."

Lockhart made a little bow as the witches cheered.

Zephyrus cringed. _'I have to deal with that imbecile…for a year?'_

"Let's go. We'll come back after the mob thins out." Olivier commented. She cringed as Lockhart looked in her direction. "Let's go. Now!"

She made her way to the door, pushing some wizards rather rudely along the way, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder just as she was about to step foot outside.

"Leaving so soon darling?"

Olivier looked out of the corner of her eye to dismay; see the owner of the voice was Lockhart who was grinning at her. She twitched. It was times like this she hated her life. Apparently a pretty face meant innocent damsel to a majority of the male population. It was a good thing that she raised Zephyrus to never think like that.

"I apologize, but it is much too crowded in here for my liking." Olivier said in a stern voice as she 'politely' shoved his hand from her shoulder. "Now kindly let go of me before I **throw you** out the window."

"She'll do it you know." The teen Amestrians commented much to horror of the witch population.

Lockhart seemed to ignore her as he took her hand in his. "You wear no ring? Such a beautiful woman as you must surely be married?"

_*Twitch*_

"Mother…are you okay?" Zephyrus said in a worried voice.

Lockhart looked over at him and gasped. "Well if it-"

CRASH!

In a swift motion Olivier threw Lockhart over the gaggle of witches and into a stack of his own books. Olivier swiftly turned to leave while the crowd rushed over to see what happened to Lockhart. She paused at the door way.

"Let that be a lesson to you. Women, even _Mundane_ women, do not like to be manhandled." Olivier commented as she walked away. Zephyrus and the Elrics were hot on her heels.

* * *

**A new year, a new mystery to solve, and a new danger. Will Lisa's parentage finally be revealed to the Magical World?**

**Next Time: Who is the Heir?**

**There are some things that should remain buried in the past. **

* * *

**OMAKE!**

Victoria and Mateo were playing in the yard of the Curtis home with some of the local children. It had taken them a little while to get over the fact that their new neighbors were not entirely human. But being kids they got over it quickly. That and the Curtis family were far from normal to begin with.

Victoria or Vicky as she liked to be called; was rather energetic and liked to run around with the kids.

Mateo was more quiet and preferred to spend the sunnier days curled up on a large rock in the yard sunbathing in order to keep his body warm.

"What do you two want for dinner?" Izumi asked out the kitchen window.

"Fish!"

"Meat!"

The two kids blinked in unison then looked at each other.

"Fish!"

"Meat!"

"Fish!"

"Meat!"

"FISH!"

"MEAT!"

"Hey!" Izumi yelled as she pulled the two apart before they could use their claws. "We can have both! Calm down!"

The new siblings ignored her and hissed at each other.

"ENOUGH! Or you will eat nothing but vegetables!"

* * *

**~9foxgrl Rant~**

**9foxgrl: I can't believe that I haven't updated this in SO LONG! Put I hit a snag on Year Two, I actually had to go get the book in order to get some inspiration! Well I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Zephyrus: Did you have to make that chibi me for the story image? -_- **

**9foxgrl: Of course! **


	8. Who is the Heir?

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Ch. 7 Who is the Heir?

The term started out relatively well, despite Zephyrus' desire to drown Lockhart in his sleep. On the train ride to school he had been accosted by a House elf who called him by his birth name a few times, and tried to get him to not to attend school before popping away when Lisa arrive.

He was very happy that he had Charms then Herbology with DADA in the afternoon. Lisa and Ethan were not as lucky however and had to endure Lockhart's first class and a major fiasco with Cornish pixies. Lisa and Hermione were the ones to capture them with the aid of a well-timed _'Immobulius'_ spell. However Lisa could not believe it when the girl got mad at her for receiving praise from Lockhart for Luckily his class with the Hufflepuffs did not have to deal with it, but they did reenactments or reading from the books. Zephyrus began to use Notice Me Not charms each time just to stay out of it.

Another issue bothering him was Ethan's cousin; Ginny Weasely(Gryffindor) was going to cause him problems, considering she, like many witches her age, had a crush on him from growing up listening to tales about his 'grand adventures'. Or at least that was what first year Luna Lovegood told him. He often caught her staring at him during meals and she followed him once or twice in the library.

Luna was one of the better things that happened that term. The two Ravens seemed to adopt a surrogate big brother –little sister relationship early on when Zephyrus stood up for her when one of the Sixth years made fun of her. Strangely Zephyrus didn't mind at all. The shy girl could now be found following her 'Big Brother' around since he was one of the few people in the world beside her Father who cared about her wellbeing and didn't call her insane.

Ethan convinced a first year named Colin to take a picture of the two to send to the General with a joke letter saying that Zephyrus had adopted himself a little sister. The two later received a letter saying don't make it a habit because they had enough childish people running around.

"Whose idea was it for us to come to this Deathday Party again?"

"It was yours Ethan." replied two annoyed preteens as they followed him down to the dungeons.

"Oh yeah…"

Ethan, being a sentimental being who respect for all things spiritual (thus making him automatic friends with a majority of the school ghosts) agreed to attend Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party on Halloween. In order to make the party more 'lively', Ethan dragged Zephyrus and Lisa along.

"How's Luna doing Zephyrus?"

"Madam Pomfrey said she'll be well enough to leave the Hospital Wing tomorrow." Zephyrus said with concern as they entered the dungeons. Not surprising he was the only one who was not affected by the sudden drop in temperature. "I still can't believe anyone would sink low enough to spray a Dizziness Draught all over her things just so she would collapse in class."

Lisa grimaced. While she would like to pity whoever was going to be on the receiving end of Zephyrus' temper, they earned it for attacking the poor girl who had done nothing to deserve it.

"Lucky Professor Snape recognized the scent." She commented as they arrived at a door covered in black drapes.

"My dear friends…" Nearly Headless Nick moaned as they approached him. "Welcome, welcome…so please you could come."

"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?" Zephyrus deadpanned quietly as they watched the numerous spirits hovering around the room.

"Maybe it's something symbolic?" Lisa replied.

After politely giving Nick their congratulations…condolences? They walked around before taking shelter in a corner. Peeves appeared just as the Headless Hunt tried to crash the party.

Feeling bad for Nick, Zephyrus challenged their leader Sir Patrick to scare him. If could not he had to apologize to Nick.

Sir Patrick tried every trick in the book, and much to the ghosts amusements…Zephyrus didn't even blink or flinch.

In Nick's opinion; it was the best Deathday gift ever!

Ethan, the only living person enjoying himself, stood off to the side debating the topic of the afterlife with the Fat Friar and the Bloody Baron based on what he had been raised on. Ironically after Sir Patrick being knocked down a peg, he was the hit of the party.

Zephyrus looked down at his watch. "It's nearly twenty hundred hours; I say it's time we left."

"Thank God." Lisa muttered as she went over to Ethan. "Come on, we need to go now or we'll get in trouble for breaking curfew."

Ethan nodded then turned to the ghosts. "Well my undead brothers, it has been a pleasure. Good night."

The trio walked in silence until they reached the first landing when Lisa froze as she felt a cold chill go down her spine.

"Lisa? Are you okay?"

"…_rip…tear…kill…"_

Lisa looked around fearfully. Ethan raised a brow curiously.

"Is something wrong?"

"Did…did you hear that?"

"What?"

"Shh!" Zephyrus hushed as he approached the adjacent wall.

"…_soo hungry…for so long…"_

"You hear it too?" Lisa asked worriedly.

Zephyrus frowned. "Just barely. It sounds muffled to me. You?"

"Clear as day." Lisa said with a shudder.

"What are you hearing?" Ethan asked frantically.

Zephyrus placed a finger to his lips and tried to pinpoint where the voice was coming.

"…_kill…time to kill…"_

"Crap, it's on the move. Lisa can you lead us?"

"Ye-yeah." Lisa said as she took off down the corridor with her wand gripped in hand.

"_Blood…I smell blood…I SMELL BLOOD!"_

Zephyrus grabbed the back of Lisa's robes' just as she approached a corner leading to a flooded passage. Cautiously he looked around the corner, seeing nothing he signaled them to move.

"Oh Hell." Ethan gasped when he caught sight of something hanging from the wall.

"Isn't that Mrs. Norris?" Lisa gasped.

"That isn't the worse part." Zephyrus stated as he looked above the cat.

_**THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.**_

_**ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE**_

"Is that blood?" Lisa squeaked uneasily.

Zephyrus approached carefully and grimaced as he smelled the faint fumes of fresh paint. "No, it's paint, and it was written recently."

"Lisa?"

The trio turned to see Draco and a few older Slytherins who were mostly, if not neutral to Zephyrus and Ethan. They took a look at the wall and whispered in hushed voices to each other.

"Merlin's beard…is that?"

"It is…"

"Go get Professor Snape." The eldest student commented to one of the Slytherins.

Draco turned to his cousin. "Get back to your dorm."

"Draco what's going on?"

"I'll explain tomorrow. Please go to your dorms before you get caught here. If you get spotted they'll think that you three did this."

"Come on." Ethan said grabbing Lisa's arm and pulling her along.

* * *

***~ICE*PRINCE*ALCHEMIST~***

* * *

The next morning was full of fear and paranoia as rumors of the Chamber of Secrets floated around. Ron boasted loudly to anyone who would listen about his suspicion of the Slytherins, and Draco in particular as the potential heir.

To everyone's relief, Mrs. Norris was not dead. Just petrified. Professor Sprout and Professor Snape were working together on keeping the batch of Mandrakes healthy so they could create the potion needed to restore her. But everyone was still on edge about the attack. House members were traveling in groups of three or more.

Lisa received a message from Draco during Potions to meet on the Quidditch field after his team's practice with her friends. Zephyrus was the last to arrive with Luna in tow, not trusting to leave her alone.

"What is this Chamber of Secrets nonsense about?"

"It's not nonsense." Draco huffed as he paced around in the abandoned arena. "I don't know much about it but…Supposedly when Salazar Slytherin left the school hundreds of years ago he had created a hidden area in the school that housed a monster. It's been rumored that one day his true heir would come to the school and release the monster to cleanse the school of all those who he saw were unfit to attend Hogwarts."

"Unfit meaning?"

"Muggleborns." Luna answered.

Draco nodded.

"I take it cleanse is another way of saying kill off?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah."

"Has there been any proof to all this?" Zephyrus asked. "All we have so far is a message, and a petrified cat."

"My Dad told me once that fifty years the Chamber was opened. Last time it opened…a…mud-…a muggleborn girl died. Right now, we're lucky it was just a cat that was petrified."

"That's why you're worried about me?" Lisa asked in a small voice.

Draco nodded. "You're from a pureblood family, but you defy all forms of tradition. It could make you a target."

"Not as long as I'm around to protect her!" Ethan yelled as he threw an arm around her.

Lisa smiled weakly.

"Any idea what the monster could be?"

Draco shook his head. "No one knows. But some have suspected in the past that it might be a snake because of Salazar's gift of parseltongue"

"Parseltongue?"

"It's the ability to talk to snakes." Lisa muttered. "…Mom…once mentioned it to me."

Draco looked uneasily at his cousin, than turned to Ethan. "Keep an eye on her please. I wouldn't put it pass some of your House to persecute her because she's a Malfoy."

"Sadly, I wouldn't either."

The odd group walked back to the school just as a group of Hufflepuffs left their Herbology Club meeting. They were all chattering rather excitedly.

"Hey Neville! Long time no see!" Ethan yelled as he ran up to the group of Hufflepuffs.

"Aren't you scared to be wandering around alone with the Heir on the loose?" one of the Puffs, Susan Bones, asked.

Ethan just pointed to Zephyrus who was nearby.

"Oh." They all said in understanding.

"So what's everyone so excited about?"

"You haven't heard? There's going to be a Dueling Club meeting tomorrow."

* * *

***~ICE*PRINCE*ALCHEMIST~***

* * *

**Lisa POV**

"I thought you weren't going to attend Zephyrus." Ethan commented as Zephyrus and Luna arrived last minute to the Dueling Club.

"Yeah, especially after one of your sources said Lockhart was leading this?" I commented.

"I wasn't but when Professor Flitwick mentioned Lockhart doing a demonstration I couldn't pass it up."

"To see him fall on his face?"

"Of course." Luna and Zephyrus chirped.

"You've corrupted the poor girl." I scolded Zephyrus.

He just shrugged as Lockhart came on stage.

"Welcome, welcome! Can you all hear me? Can you all see me? Excellent!" Lockhart called out. "In the light of recent events, Professor Dumbledore has given me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all up in case you need to defend yourselves-"

"Can magical creatures duel?" Zephyrus whispered to Luna.

"None that I've met." Luna replied as they was a surge of girls pushing to get closer to the stage as Lockhart tossed off his cape, and threw it into the crowd.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape!"

I heard Zephyrus cackle quietly as their Potion master came on stage.

"Now don't worry, you'll still have you Potion's teacher when I'm through with him."

"Ah, but will we still have our DADA professor?"

"I will build a monument in his honor if Snape does." Someone behind us muttered.

There were some snickers as Snape sent Lockhart flying.

"Ah! Excellent idea to show them that Professor Snape! But let's let the students give a shot now…Uh Mr. Nott, Mr. Prewett, if you will come up please!"

Ethan was rather annoyed when Lockhart called him up. I know why too; the Ishvalans hate unnecessary violence. In fact a majority of the Ishvalans I've met were borderline pacifists. In the years I've known him, Ethan would only fight if he had to defend himself, but he would never start it.

This was not going to end well…

"_Serpensortia!_"

There was a loud bang as a large snake flew out of Nott's wand. Ethan paled as the snake slithered to him. I was one of the few people who knew about his fear of snakes.

"Don't move Mr. Prewett, I'll get rid of it for you." Snape said as he strolled forward.

"Allow me Professor Snape!" Lockhart said eagerly as he made some weird movement with his wand and flicked it at the snake, sending it flying into the air then landing directly at Ethan's feet.

"_Stupid human! I'll bite you after I bite this boy!"_

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I screamed as it reared its head to bite Ethan's leg.

The snake stopped inches from his leg and looked at me curiously.

_"Speaker?"_

Before I could respond the snake was blasted by a beam of light. I stared at the spot where it disappeared for second before I became aware of the frantic whispers and people moving away from me. Beside me, Draco was staring at me like he had never seen me before.

"What are you playing at?" a Hufflepuff yelled at me.

I began to hear catches of 'snake tongue', 'Heir', and 'Snake' around me.

I paled as I realized what I had done and ran out of the Great Hall.

Normal POV

"Lisa! Wait!" Ethan yelled as he hopped off the Dueling stage. "HOLD UP!"

He shoved his way through the crowd as he tried to catch up to Lisa as she bolted down the corridors. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Draco, Luna and Zephyrus following him.

"Where is she?" Draco asked as they lost sight of her on the Fifth floor.

Zephyrus looked around then thought carefully. He turned to Luna. "Didn't you say there was a room here that only appears when you need it?"

Luna nodded then lead them to a badly drawn painting of a wizard attempting to teach trolls ballet. She paced in front of the wall three times before a door appeared.

The boys opened it and were shocked to see Lisa crouching in a dark room crying.

"Lisa?" Ethan said in a soft voice as he crouched down to look at her.

"It's all my fault! So stupid! I spoke to that snake in front of everyone! I was so careless!"  
"Just because you can talk to snakes does not mean you're automatically the Heir of Slytherin." Draco commented.

Lisa looked at him with sorrow filled eyes.

"But…I am."

***~ICE*PRINCE*ALCHEMIST~***

**Being brave requires both strength on the inside and support on the outside. It's up to Lisa to fight the Heir and destroy the hateful legacy that her ancestors have left behind for her. **

Next Time: **The Heiress of Slytherin **

"**Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."**

**Winston Churchill **


	9. Heiress of Slytherin

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

The Heiress of Slytherin

After the fiasco at the Duel Club; Lisa became ostracized within her own House by everyone except for Ethan and the Twins. Although it was more for the reasons that she was a parselmouth. Draco and the others swore to say nothing about her lineage.

Ethan soon joined her in isolation in after he and Ron had a shouting match at breakfast about how it was unjustifiable that they were all persecuting her without any proof. After that the two began to take their meals with Zephyrus. The Twins silently supported her in order to be able to keep an eye on Ron and his band of conspirators.

It was a week before Neville was able to pry himself away from the hounding of his fellow Hufflepuffs to tell her that he believed that she was innocent.

For a while all everyone who suspected her just ignored her. At least until the morning after the Gryffindor-Slytherin game when Collin Creevey and Justin Finch-Fletchley were found petrified in the corridors.

Lisa was immediately questioned about her whereabouts that night by the staff. Despite her insistence that she was in her bed sleeping none of her roommates wanted to confirm it in her defense. The only Gryffindor who did help her support her alibi was Ethan; who had been sleeping in the Common Room after he couldn't take anymore of Ron's chainsaw snoring. Fat Lady also confirmed that she had not left that night since returning from an early dinner.

The next night one or all of the girls in the second year dorm had taken to sabotaging Lisa's bed on a daily biases as well as attempting to break into her trunk. While she did not join in, Hermione made no motion to help her either. Their bullying started to make the normally cheerful girl withdrawn and her grades started to decline.

When the Christmas holidays came around they were surprised to find out that their respected teachers had ask for all three to meet in Central for the first two weeks of the holidays in order to prepare for 'E-Day' as Ed called it in May. After nearly two weeks of nonstop studying Ethan and Alex left for Ishval to help in the city's restoration process and to work on a new variation of alchemy for defensive purposes while Ed left for Resembool and Zephyrus returned to Briggs.

Roy had noticed something was off with his apprentice when she got off the train at King's Cross, not smiling or acting like her normal self. During the practical lessons she stumbled slightly when hitting targets with her alchemic attacks. After twenty misses and several hedges turned to cinders she left the range and sat down under a tree that survived.

Roy sat down beside her and patted Lisa on the head awkwardly. While he volunteered to be her foster father, he didn't fully believe that he was parental material. He usually left that up to Hawkeye.

"Are you okay?"

Lisa just shook her head.

"Did something happen at school?"

Lisa nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Lisa sniffed and started to cry. Roy held her as she sobbed out how the majority of the students believed that she was the one responsible for the sudden rash of attacks that had left the students petrified and even if she had an alibi and witness who were with her, they all believe that she was a heartless killer. Even with Ethan and Zephyrus standing up for her their bullying was relentless.

"You shouldn't allow for this person's actions to hinder you like this." Roy said as she clung to him like a life preserver. "You said so yourself; you don't want to be like your birth father. You don't have to be. Stand up for yourself and choose how _you_ what those wizards see you."

The two sat like that for a while until Hawkeye came looking for him. By then Lisa had cried herself to sleep.

"You know, I would never guess that you could actually be parental." Hawkeye commented as Roy gently lifted his foster daughter in his arms and started to carry her to his office where he set her down on the sofa. "Everyone in Central lost the betting pool since they all thought you would have had a midlife crisis by now."

"Do I look like I'll start wearing a leather jacket or get one of those motorcycles that Prewitt goes on about?" Roy replied as he covered Lisa with his jacket. "Besides…I guess having been friends with Hughes must have really affected me a lot."

_(-0-)- Ice Prince Alchemist-(-0-)_

The trio met up again for Zephyrus' and Ethan's own birthday on New Year's (which was held in Ishval). While there Zephyrus assisted Miles in locating underground reservoirs for the new wells.

The younger children of Ishval were amazed by the Northern teen's pale features and fascinated by his ice alchemy. Two children named Rick and Leo who took a shine to him asked him to create a small field of snow to play in. To everyone's surprise he just smiled and created enough for the small group of children to play in.

It was also during that time in the eastern deserts that Zephyrus discovered that he was very susceptible to heat exhaustion if he used his alchemy for a long duration of time. One of the crews that was digging out a location for the new well that would be in the city's square had heard from Miles that he was very good at water based alchemy, and asked if he could help them pull the water to the surface, so he used alchemy to help reach a spring that was deep underground and as a result; fainted as soon as the water bubbled to the surface. When he awoke Miles was sitting next to him placing a fresh cold compress on his forehead while Ethan was standing in the back of the room.

"So you can fight trolls, and stare down the most 'powerful' of wizards, but you can't handle a little heat?"

"Shut up Prewett."

_(-0-)- Ice Prince Alchemist-(-0-)_

Roy's pep talk did Lisa a lot of good especially when she had a chance to talk with Lan Fan and Ling who were visiting Central on a diplomacy mission; Ling even gave her a sure fire way to divert her bullies. The night they returned Lisa stood up during dinner and announced aloud that if anyone else accused her of being responsible for the recent attacks then she would have no choice but to challenge them to an _Agni Kai_ as Ling had called it. If the insulter lost then a mark of dishonor would literally be burned onto their flesh as a reminder of their slander. After hearing that her declaration the insults and sabotage of her possessions ended immediately. No one knew what an Agni Kai was; only that it involved a 'trial by fire' so to speak.

The following weeks were relatively quiet until Valentine's Day when Lockhart decorated the entire Great Hall in bright pink. Zephyrus arrived in a rather irritated mood (apparently Cho Chang and half of the other girls spent a majority of the night loudly squealing about the next day) when the man made his declaration about the dwarves singing valentines.

The sleepy preteen took one look at the hall then, blinked, and grabbed a mug of coffee and turned to leave cursing "It's too early in the morning for this idiocy."

No one could find him the entire day.

There were no more attacks and the year seemed that it was going to end calmly when Zephyrus received a message from the Spanish Ministry in early May. Apparently one of their wizards found some works by Flamel in the Madrid library, however they were all mundane biology books and they didn't know if there was anything of worth in them. After getting permission from Grumman and Ed, the Spanish Ministry forwarded him the copies of the research to decrypt.

It took him almost his entire weekend to break the code and find the hidden information. A majority of which he spent in his room using his own alchemy reference books and some Greek and Spanish dictionaries. His friends popping in to make sure he took regular breaks and was eating.

While the books didn't contain anything to the Philosopher's Stone; however he did discover that the books contained Flamel's notes on his chimera research.

The chimera research had only gone on for roughly two years, and the children they found in the villa were not the only ones. There were others, but he dumped their remains in an unmarked mass grave, quite possibly across the borders into Portugal or southern France. Prior to that Flamel had made mention of teaching a promising student about red water in France.

But what sickened him the most was a brief mention of Flamel comparing his brief visitation of Greece to his former home of Xerxes.

Not knowing what red water was he made a copy of the notes to forward to the Elrics. He had a really bad feeling about this red water.

By the end he burned himself out with his all-nighters and slept through the rest of Sunday night. When he woke up on Monday, he was not expecting to be awakened by Lisa in a near panic.

"What wrong?" He asked groggily.

"Zephyrus…it's…they've been…"

Fearing the worst Zephyrus followed her at a fast run up to the hospital wing. He paled as he recognized four new people lying on the beds petrified.

"What…happened?" Zephyrus gasped.

"They went to the library early this morning." Lisa whimpered. "That's where Professor McGonagall found them."

"Oh dear God…" Zephyrus whispered in horror as he approached.

There on the beds were Ethan, Luna, and Neville. In a bed adjacent to them was Hermione.

"Do you know what this clue was?"

Lisa hastily looked around before taking out two scraps of paper, one looking liked it was ripped from a book; that she had tucked in the pockets of her jeans and handed it to him.

"I found it in Ethan's hands gripped in a death vice. Hermione had the one from the book in hers." Lisa explained as Zephyrus unfolded it.

Ethan's note had the world parseltongue at the top, followed by a list of magical snakes; from Ashwinders to Runespoors notes of their abilities were added next to them. A majority were scratched out only leaving the basilisk on the list along with Moaning Myrtle's name and Tom Riddle with stars around it.

Zephyrus then looked at the ripped page from the book.

**Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.**

Underneath it was an added note: _**Pipes**_

"What now?" Lisa asked him.

Zephyrus took a deep breath, snapping back into his Ice Prince persona, and then turned to face her with fierce determination in his eyes. "We need to send a notice to Lt. Colonel Prewett. He'll want to know about this."

"And then?"

Zephyrus's glare darkened. Lisa shivered; his cold blue eyes looked like they were staring into her very soul.

"We find the bastard responsible for this and kick their ass."

Lisa nodded in agreement then followed him out of the hospital wing. Both of them were wearing grim but determined faces. After sending off the note with Valkirye the two immediately gathered their alchemy gear and headed to Moaning Myrtles bathroom, both noticed a new message scrawled on the wall and their motivation intensified.

Lisa quickly found the sink Ethan had marked in his notes and hissed.

"_Open."_

There was a churning as the sinks rose up then separated revealing a large tunnel heading underground. Lisa casted a quick light spell to illuminate it.

"Looks pretty deep."

"Yup."

"Who goes first?"

"There will be no need for anyone to go down there."

The two turned slightly to see Lockhart pointing his wand at them. His golden hair and his periwinkle robes were in disheveled as if he just ran.

"Now, if you kindly back away we can sort this all out."

"Planning on another idiotic display?" Zephyrus asked as the wizard approached. "Or another farce like in those books?"

"I can say I caught the heiress of Slytherin." Lockhart said greedily as he looked at Lisa like she was a prized trophy. "That alone will bring me much more fame. Just capturing you alone will set me for life."

Before he could utter a single spell Zephyrus launched forward to kick him in the stomach then threw him over his shoulder and down into the tunnel. They waited until he stopped screaming and they heard a thud from below. Lisa and Zephyrus merely exchanged a look then followed. When they landed they appeared to be in a chamber with another door against the wall and the floor littered with the skeletons of several small creatures.

Lockhart tried to curse them again, but this time Lisa incinerated his wand with a quick snap of her fingers and Zephyrus hit him with a well-aimed stunning charm between his eyes.

_(-0-)- Ice Prince Alchemist-(-0-)_

"This place is freaking me out." Lisa whispered as she climbed down some stairs into a sort of ante chamber with wall to wall snake statues.

"Your ancestor really had a snake fetish." Zephyrus replied.

Lisa just shuddered until she noticed some one lying at the foot of the largest statue. "Zephyrus."

The two approached cautiously; while Zephyrus slipped out a dagger from his sleeve and looked around cautiously Lisa leaned down to check the girl for a pulse. Seeing the red hair she gently rolled her over then paled as she noticed a worn journal in her hands.

"She won't wake." Said an amused male voice.

Zephyrus braced himself as a tall boy seemly melted out of the shadows in front of them.

"Who are you?"

The figure seemed to examine them both with curiosity. "Who I am means nothing…however…I know the two of you. Lisa Malfoy the 'snake in the lions' den. And of course Harry Potter the object of Miss Weasely's affections."

"My name is- ah forget it!" Zephyrus cursed. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU ATTACK OUR FRIENDS?"

The boy tilted his head in amusement. "Why? Because Ginny asked me to. There was only so long I could tolerate her whining about her prince charming ignoring her because of his friends. However, it's not you that interests me most of all."

He turned to Lisa with curiosity. "You girl…you have the same eyes as me."

"Tom Riddle." She whispered in fear. "You're Tom Riddle?"

Zephyrus quickly caught onto the double meaning and made himself a shield between them. With a quick flick of the wrist he threw that dagger at him only to have Tom repel it with Ginny's wand.

"Get out of the way Potter."

"I don't respond to that name anymore Riddle." Zephyrus snapped as leaned forward to prepare lunge. "And I sure as Hell am not moving so you can hurt my friend."

Tom just smirked and pointed to the statue behind Lisa. _"Speak to me Slytherin! Greatest of the Hogwarts Four!" _

"RUN ZEPHYRUS!" Lisa yelled as she heard the snake hiss in anger as it slithered out of the statue. Zephyrus quickly tugged on the snow blinding goggles around his neck and clapped his hands together before slamming them on the chamber floor. Lisa shivered as the surge of Zephyrus' alchemy caused all the water on the floor to rush towards the snake as ice stalagmites.

While none of them could pierce the snakes' hide they did slow down its movements.

"I thought these damn things were cold blooded!" Zephyrus snapped as he used alchemy to create a barrier around Lisa and Ginny before drawing his sword and charging. The blade to his surprise managed to pierce the Basilisk's thick scales.

"YOU IDIOT!" Lisa yelled through clenched teeth as she tugged on her gloves and snapped a large fireball at Tom before he could try to attack Zephyrus.

"What sort of magic is this?" Tom demanded as he tried to extinguish the fire ball, but resorted to dodging it, just as Zephyrus ducked behind them and let the fire ball hit the basilisk.

"_Kill the boy!"_ Tom hissed.

"Don't look at its eyes!" Lisa yelled as Zephyrus disappeared down an adjacent water flooded tunnel.

"NO SHIT SHERLOCK!" Zephyrus yelled in the distance.

Lisa abandoned the safety of the barrier to start sending more fireballs at Tom who decided that dodging them was easier then attempting to negate them. Apparently when these fireballs hit a magic barrier it created a magical backlash on the wand holder.

"Who do you think you are to challenge Lord Voldemort!" Tom yelled as he managed to grab a hold of her hair. Lisa screamed as he pulled it hard.

"Who are you girl?" Tom snared. "How can a child raised among Muggles have the magic of Slytherin running through her veins?"

In the distance they heard Zephyrus scream in pain, making Tom grin triumphantly. "Well look at, one down, and another to go."

'_No, no! I won't lose to a monster like you!' _

There was another howl from the tunnels, this one sounding more animalistic. Zephyrus then stumbled in with a blood sword in one hand and a basilisk fang in the other, cradling his right arm. From under his bloody hair Lisa could see some ice formed around the elbow.

"I killed the basilisk." He said weakly before leaning against one of his ice pillars.

"And you were bitten as a result." Tom sneered. "Don't worry Potter; you will be with your dead parents soon.

Eyes widening in fear then narrowing in determination Lisa snapped a small fire ball to incinerate Tom's hand and some of her hair, leaving it short and singed at the ends.

She then ripped off the gloves and flicked out her pendant and held in front of her. The alchemy circle started to glow a shade of gold before turning bright red, illumining the chamber in its glow. Zephyrus, who had witnessed this form of alchemy attack during the Promised Day, hastily retreated behind one of the snake statues for cover.

"You want to know who I am Tom? My name is Lisa Malfoy! I am the Heiress of Slytherin!" Lisa roared as she released the energy from the pendant.

The chamber was illuminated with a bright flash of light and heat. There was a scream of pain from Tom as he was incinerated but to their shock, still burned he stood up laughing.

"You can't kill me!" Tom yelled. "You can't kill me as long as my memories live!"

Looking at the diary Lisa understood the hidden meaning. Grabbing it she threw it at him. "ZEPHYRUS!"

Zephyrus winced in pain as he threw his sword out to stab the diary in mid-air. Tom screamed as the venom now embedded in the sword's metal seeping into the diary, severing the connection. The two watched in shock as Tom began to melt in front of their eyes, screaming in pain.

Ginny woke with a gasp and looked around in fear. Ignoring her, Lisa scurried over to Zephyrus who was lying against the walls breathing shallowly now that the ice began to fall apart at his arm.

"Zephyrus, are you-?"

Zephyrus smiled weakly and pulled up his right sleeve revealing an open wound.

"On no! No!"

"Well, at least you can't be called the source behind the attacks." He breathed weakly.

"You can't die, come on! Stay alive!" Lisa yelled as she slapped him to keep his eyes open.

"Basilisk venom…is one of the deadliest in the world…" he wheezed. "I…froze the wound…to try slow it down…but…it's wearing off…S-sorry…"

"No come on! You'll live!" Lisa snapped as she shook him.

There was a burst of silver light from above and another drop in temperatures.

"Valkyrie…you're here?" Zephyrus wheezed as the ice phoenix landed on his injured arm.

The phoenix cried out as let a single glimmering tear fall from its eyes and into the wound. Another flash of silver light later, the wound was healed and color was returning to Zephyrus' cheeks.

Wincing a bit, the boy sat up and looked at Valkyrie with amazement. "Thank you."

The three headed to the entry way they came in, Lockhart was still lying on the floor unconscious.

"So…what should we do with him?" Lisa asked.

"Let's leave him here." Zephyrus replied bluntly.

Ginny eyes widened in shock. "Really?"

"Well unless you have a better option, I don't think Valkyrie is magically powerful enough to take all four of us to the surface." Zephyrus replied.

*~(Ice Prince Alchemist)~*

After Ginny pointed out that they could possibly get in trouble for doing that, Zephyrus reluctantly levitated the man out. The three then left him in the bathroom tied to the sinks with Myrtle telling him every little pain of her afterlife.

The three followed Valkyrie to a nearby classroom where they jumped as a man's voice reverberated through the solid oak doors.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?"

"It sounds like Roy is here." Zephyrus said with a hint of amusement. Lisa just snickered weakly then opened the door.

Sure enough Roy was in the classroom along with Fabian, Olivier, a red haired couple who were with the Twins and Ron that Zephyrus had recognized as their parents Arthur and Molly, Flitwick, McGonagall, and to his distaste; Dumbledore.

"GINNY!"

"Mum!" Ginny cried as she ran into the arms of the woman who had been crying.

Olivier crossed the room swiftly and quickly looked Zephyrus over for injuries. Roy did the same for Lisa, and then to her shock, he hugged her.

"Thank goodness you're okay." He whispered.

Lisa's eyes watered a bit. "The Heir is gone; and so is the monster."

Olivier pushed Zephyrus into a chair. "What happened?"

Lisa opened her mouth to speak, but then Ethan stumbled in. Catching sight of his friends' disheveled appearance he sighed in relief before leaning against his dad for support.

"You kicked that Heir's butt huh?"

Ethan gave them a quick summary of how had been secretly investigating the Heir of Slytherin before he was attacked. He deduced since Lisa heard something that night he deduced that is was a snake of some kind and then used some books to research what kind it could have been. Finding just a list of magical snakes and their abilities to work with he interviewed the ghosts and asked them about the last time the Chamber had opened with Luna and Neville assisting him. They had then been led by Peeves to Moaning Myrtle.

Her testimony and recount of how she died helped narrow the list down to the Basilisk. In fact he had been on his way to warn Lisa and Zephyrus when they ran into Hermione outside the library. It was there they had been attacked from behind.

Lisa and Zephyrus picked up from there; keeping out certain details, they told of how they use Ethan's clues to get into the Chamber when Lockhart attempted to ambush them.

"He's tied up in the bathroom." Zephyrus said looking at Roy who glared at the mention of the man.

Tom then appeared from the Diary and confessed to not only using Ginny as a puppet, but that he was the student who became Voldemort before unleashing the Basilisk on them. Lisa held the spirit away from Ginny with fire spells while Zephyrus led the Basilisk away from them, including being injured as he tried to kill with his sword.

Olivier yanked up his right sleeve to see the fading scar. Only Zephyrus caught the glimmer of worry in her eyes before she allowed them to continue.

"I bombarded that guy with all the fire spells I knew." Lisa said catching Roy's glance. "But none of them worked. He just regenerated until Zephyrus managed to pierce the diary he came out of with his sword."

"But how did that work?" Arthur asked. "He used a muggle sword didn't he?"

"Did you use the same sword that you used to kill the basilisk?" Flitwick asked.

"Yes sir."

Flitwick thought for a moment. "Well, there have been a case where a weapon that had been used to slay a venomous creature the venom it's self seeps into the weapon. But that was with Goblin made weapons. Muggle swords would deteriorate on contact and broken when confronted with the snake's hide."

He turned to the two sword wielders. "Do you know who forged them?"

The Armstrongs exchanged a look before shaking their heads. "Our blades have been passed down the family line for generations. But the forger's name was never told to us."

"As interesting as this revelation is." Fabian interjected. "We still don't know how it was possible for a diary to control Ginerva and make her attack her fellow classmates."

"Yes, there are many theories to that question." Dumbledore said; speaking for the first time. "But I do believe that Tom placed an enchantment of sorts on this diary…and used it to possess Miss Weasely."

"WHAT? You Know Who possessed Ginny?" Molly screeched making the Amestrians wince at the volume.

"Not to worry, I'm sure with young Harry's intervention and destruction of the diary there is not a trace of the spirit left."

"Harry?" Arthur said questionably then looked at the teen. "I thought your name is Zephyrus?"

"It is." The teen growled.

"His muggle name is Zephyrus dad." Ron piped up before the Twins could stop him. "His real name is Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter?" Molly repeated in shock.

"That was his name, until I adopted him!" Olivier snapped back at her.

"I thought you left the boy with his muggle relatives." Molly asked the Headmaster, completely ignoring the fuming Armstrongs.

"I did. And that is where young Harry will be spending a portion of his summer. So he can get in touch with them again."

"YOU HAVE TO BE INSANE IF YOU THINK THAT I WILL ALLOW ZEPHYRUS TO GO BACK TO THE BASTARDS WHO HAD ABANDONED HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Olivier yelled. Roy and Fabian quickly backed away towards the door, dragging their charges with them. Fred and George manically grabbed their father and siblings and backed away as well.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked.

"Trust us little brother-"

"-You do not want to anger Zephyrus' Mum anymore."

"Why?"

"She is the highest ranked **and** scariest woman in the Amestrian military for a very good reason." Roy and Fabian deadpanned.

Fred and George nodded fearfully.

Ron snorted. "So what? I bet she isn't as scary as you think."

Fred and George grabbed him. "SHUT UP RON!"

"DON'T BE SUICIDAL!"

"Please Madam, I am sure that young Harry-"

"YOU WOULD TRUST THEM TO TAKE CARE OF HIM FOR TWO MONTHS AFTER THEY ABANDONED HIM IN ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MOUNTAIN RANGES IN WESTERN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLIZZARD? AND SECONDLY MY SON IS ZEPHYRUS! I ADOPTED HIM, AND GAVE HIM A NEW NAME BECAUSE HE HAD NONE!"

"That's can't be possible!" Molly cried out from behind the woman radiating murderous intent.

Roy and Fabian winced as Olivier turned slightly to focus some of her wrath onto the woman.

"No it is." The white haired teen replied in a vain attempt to keep his mother from attacking a civilian bare handed. "I had no idea what my name was or where I even came from at the time so Mother gave me a one."

"But Harry, your relatives-"

The boy suddenly glared at Molly, perfectly mimicking the cloud of promised doom radiating from his adoptive mother.

"My name is Zephyrus Armstrong! Harry Potter died the second he was abandoned to the Durselys! And in case you don't believe me or Mother about how terrible they were to me in the one YEAR that I was living with them I'm sure the doctor who treated me for pneumonia and hypothermia back then also documented the other injuries I had!"

"Injuries?" she said meekly.

"Broken wrist, multiple bruises, and some recently new and old lacerations." Olivier counted off as she remembered how pitiful a state the toddler had been in when she had found him trying to stay warm in a hollow log. "Frankly I'm surprised that you weren't picked off by the wildlife before I had found you."

"Please, I'm sure that it was all a simple misunderstanding-"Dumbledore tried to argue, but suddenly found that he was facing both of the Armstrong's death glares, including the glares of the two men who had accompanied her in storming his office after receiving word that Ethan had been petrified and Zephyrus & Lisa had gone missing minutes after Ginny had been taken.

"One does not **abuse** a child due to a simple misunderstanding." Olivier growled. "Now this is enough on the matter Headmaster; your authority ends here at the school grounds on matters of academia, and from what I have seen so far it is lacking."

"Our professors are the best in Europe!" Dumbledore tried to argue.

"With the exception of the buffoon who thought he could use my ward as a ticket to stardom I'm sure." Roy interjected angrily. "Morally this school is doing very little to correct any misconceptions about non-magical ideals or subdue the racist ideals that are causing strife generation after generation. With enough time I'm sure you will end up being the alma mater to the next 'Dark Lord' as you call them."

"If case it slipped your mind Dumbledore, the main reason I even allowed for Zephyrus to attend this institution was a _political sign of good faith on our countries' behalf towards the United_ _Kingdom_!" Olivier stressed. "Had it not been for that then he wouldn't have come!"

"The same reason I allowed Lisa to come here." Roy added. "I'm sure we could have done just as well if Fabian or a private instructor tutored them."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence sir." Fabian replied as he stood between his son and sister. He had been nearing the point of shooting the man when his son stumbled in.

"Hogwarts is the finest magical school in Britain!" Molly chastised to her brother.

"It is the only magical school in Britain Molly." Fabian retorted dryly.

"Zephyrus, you are to return home as soon as the term ends. If you're not on that train then I will come back up here, with the Briggs Bears in tow!" Olivier snapped; the last part of her threat directed at Dumbledore. "**Fully armed!"**

_(-0-)- Ice Prince Alchemist-(-0-)_

"Another year of crazy magic school finished." Ethan sighed as the train started to leave Hogsmeade station. "Think we can survive five more?"

"Unless we can get the Fuhrer to start a magic school up in Amestris it's not like we have much of a choice." Zephyrus muttered as half heartily while pilfering a spearmint stick from his nearly empty candy bag.

"It's not a real question if we can survive it, more like if Hogwarts can survive when we get our certifications." Lisa laughed. "I guess the next time we'll see each other will be for the exam in Central."

Upon his return to the Armstrong Manor Zephyrus collapsed on his bed and fell into the world of dreams.

At first everything was all white, and then a familiar looking door appeared.

"_**Welcome back Little One."**_

Zephyrus gasped as a vague figure with a grinning mouth appeared in front of him.

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"_**Oh that's right, you were only a small child back then you don't remember the first time you visited me?"**_

"Visited?"

Zephyrus gasped as he vaguely remembered the incident that destroyed his scar. "You're…the Gate of Truth. What do you want from me?"

"_**Don't worry; you're just here in a dream sense. I'll let you go in a minute."**_Truth laughed.

"Then why-?"

"_**Do you know you destroyed something very important this year child?" **_

"I did?"

Truth just laughed.

"_**Tell me child, what is the greatest taboo amongst alchemists?" **_

"The creation of gold and humans."

"_**Very good. And can you guess what the taboo amongst wizards is?"**_

"Common sense." Zephyrus deadpanned.

Truth just laughed.

"_**Oh if only that true, or else their actions would have been a lot easier to understand. The greatest taboo amongst the magical community is the manipulation of human souls, both alive and dead." **_

Zephyrus gaped.

"_**Did you know that there was something inside that diary? It was similar what was inside your scar as a child." **_

"Something…was inside the scar?"

"_**Yes and there are five more still in existence. Do you want to know what it was?" **_

If possible; Truth's grin grew larger.

"_**The thing…was the fragment of your birth parents' murderer. A fragment of his soul." **_

Zephyrus woke up in a cold sweat.

* * *

**Some things cannot be explained and the Gate of Truth's actions is one of them. With the return of an old friend and a suspected killer on the loose life is never dull. **

**Next time – State Alchemy Exam**

**It's is time for the Ice Prince to be crowned.**

* * *

**OMAKE – The Queen's Knight**

Zephyrus was currently with Dr. Elsie reading a fairytale story book. Apparently she didn't think that it was alright for a soon to be four year old to be learning to read from military manuals so she wrote to her parents to send her some of the books she read as a child, many of which were fairytales with princess and dragons.

"Umm… ?"

"Yes? What's wrong?" the doctor asked looking away from Buccaneer and Ian* at her small charge.

"A lot of these books have princess and queens in them."

"So they do."

"And everyone calls my mother a queen."

Buccaneer snickered. "An Ice Queen."

"So…who is her knight?"

"Eh?"

Zephyrus opened the book and pointed to a picture of a knight protecting his queen. "All queens have a knight to help them…then who is mother's knight?"

The doctor and the two men exchanged a look. That was good question.

Buccaneer stated that his roll was more like a bishop's than a knight so that began the debate with would last for nearly two months, the question slipping to the general forces who added their own opinions before they came up with an answer. It was during a brief strike with Drachma. The General and Miles (who had only joined a month ago) had gone topside when they were attacked by Drachman sniper squad.

The General got hit in the shoulder and Miles kept her safe until Buccaneer and the Bears arrived to dispose of them, but not before the General and Miles worked together to fire one of the cannons they had been inspecting at them. To everyone's surprised Zephyrus went up to Miles and thanked him for protecting his mother, he even hugged him!

The next day they gave Zephyrus an answer. Elsie, Ian, Buccaneer, and Hell even a majority of Briggs who voted decided unanimously.

The Ice Queen's knight was Miles.

But to their surprise the child just laughed.

"But I already knew that! Mother and Miles told me." Zephyrus laughed as he ran off, leaving them stunned.

**OMAKE # 2- Declaration of Love **

_His eyes are as blue as a calming draught_

_His hair as white as the peppermint candy_

_I truly wish he was mine,_

_He's really divine,_

_The Hero who conquered the Dark Lord._

Zephyrus just stared at the dwarf who had discovered onto his hiding place on top of Ravenclaw Tower and gave him a Galleon. "Here, go get some strong liquor to make you forget that."

"Much obliged." The dwarf said before flying off.

***Ian is the name I made up for Buccaneer's automail mechanic at Fort Briggs. **

**A/n: I'm starting up a poll on what nicknames Ethan & Lisa should receive on my profile. So please vote! **


	10. State Alchemy Exam

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Ch. 9 State Alchemy Exam

"Do you see that?"

"Those three kids in the back?"

"Snot nosed brats have been getting cockier ever since Fullmetal passed."

"I'm still telling you that was a fluke."

"Holy Crap! Is that-"

"What's wrong?"

"The white haired kid!"

"The one reading from the notebook?"

"You see any other white haired kid around here?"

"What about him?"

"That's Fullmetal's apprentice!"

"What? Are you serious?"

"So that's General Armstrong's son?"

"Holy crap."

Zephyrus merely rolled his eyes as the proctors began to explain the exam and then started to hand out the exams. Taking a deep breath he looked down at the first question.

After seemed to be like an eternity, Zephyrus walked outside where his uncle was waiting with his friends.

"So how did it go?"

"I complete all but the last six questions." Lisa said as she rubbed her tired wrists.

"Same here." Ethan muttered as he winced as the sunlight hit his uncovered eyes.

"I managed to complete the written portion." Zephyrus muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

Ethan and Lisa looked at him in shock. "Crazy Ravenclaw."

"Oh shut up." Zephyrus muttered as he climbed into the town car. "Just be thankful it will be two days before we find out about the interviews."

Alex just chuckled as he patted his nephew on his head.

"Don't worry, if I can pass the interviews, then so can you. Have you given any though as to what to do for the practical?"

"I have a new alchemy circle that I'm working on."

"Same here."

Zephyrus struggled not to close his eyes.

"Depends on the weather." He muttered.

Upon returning home Zephyrus skipped dinner and went straight to bed as he his eye lids became too heavy to stay open much longer. Since the first dream visit from Truth, Zephyrus had been plagued with voices and images that all seemed to blur in his mind as he tried to sleep.

"_**Pass the Exam and I will return someone lost to this world." **_

Zephyrus gasped as he awoke. Sitting up he grimaced at the dream.

"Stupid door." The teen cursed as he ignored his bed for the carpeted floor.

The next morning Zephyrus was awakened by a maid stating that his interview had been placed for the following afternoon. Getting up to get dress he cursed as Truth's message constantly repeated in his head.

**(-Ice Prince Alchemist-)**

Ethan fidgeted nervously as he followed the soldier leading him to the meeting room. His name was first to appear on the roster for today.

"Enter Alchemist." Called out a voice from inside.

Ethan entered and headed for the chair in the center. Without a second thought he sat down and faced the council with his unconcealed Ishvalan eyes.

He mentally patted himself on the back as he noticed two of the senior officers fidget.

"Welcome the second part of the exam." Grumman stated as he looked at the teen with surprise. "If you manage to pass from here on you will be expected to obey the military laws. Will you be able to?"

"As long as you do not order me to follow in Kimblee's bloody footsteps then I will." Ethan replied sternly.

Lisa's was interview an hour later.

"What made you decide to be a state alchemist?"

"Because, I decided that I want to be able to protect the innocent with all that I can."

By the time Zephyrus' interview came he was nervous. His was the last one of the day.

"Why do you want to become a state alchemist?"

Zephyrus just stared straight at Grumman as the memories of all the Briggs soldiers who he had seen die in the line of duty flash before him.

"So that I can protect those who cannot stand for themselves and repay all the ones who shielded me from harm."

By day's end there were only ten candidates out of the original forty who were moving on.

**(-Ice Prince Alchemist-)**

"Welcome alchemists to your practical exam. We've provided you with some nice raw materials. So show us how you stand out."

The three teenagers hung back as the older alchemists eagerly raced forward to try and show the younger ones up. After letting the older crew exhaust themselves Lisa stepped forward and took out six pellets in her hands with a new transmutation circle written on them.

She tossed three in the air with the circles active, letting them explode into colorful fireworks. Seeing the older alchemists look unimpressed she threw the other three up as well, except these exploded with a more volatile reaction.

"Don't underestimate a girl who likes explosions." She said with a wink as she headed back to her spot.

"My turn!" Ethan yelled as he slammed his fists into the ground creating several larger pillars that created a barrier of protection around him. Unfortunately he miscalculated and one burst out beneath Zephyrus' feet and sent the unsuspecting boy flying into the air.

"Damn you!" the white haired teenager yelled as he clapped his hands and started to pull the water from the clouds above him. He quickly converted the water vapor into an ice slide shaped like a spiral, that lead back to the ground. Landing on the ice feet first, he slid down, then halfway transmuted the ice back into water and hit Ethan's barrier with the force of a small tidal wave.

Grumman laughed and just clapped at the show. "Ah youths these days! So adventurous!"

As soon as the trio returned to Armstrong Manor Zephyrus began to chase Ethan in the garden with a blunted practice sword.

It was another two days before the council came to a final decision. Surprisingly there were five who made the cut.

Two were of the older crowd who were shuffled into the research branch to help in reversing the damage that the former branch did under Bradley's command. Lisa and Ethan made the cut tied for second and Zephyrus to Al's amusement, beat Ed's score by two points.

_This official document certifies that the nation of Amestris, prefecture of the Generalissimo appoints the name _**_Ice Prince_**_ to __Zephyrus Rex Armstrong__; in the name of Fuhrer Grumman._

_The State Alchemist shall follow all orders and policies of the military._

_A research assessment examination shall be held once every year. In the case that the State Alchemist does not show signs of progress as a result of the examination, he shall be discharged from the services of State Alchemist._

_The State Alchemist is entitled to the use of ample research funds, unrestricted access to classified documentation, access to various governmental facilities, and a military rank equal to that of "Major"._

_- Grumman_

"Ice Prince?" Zephyrus questioned aloud.

"The man has a sense of humor." Ed snickered as he read over Zephyrus' shoulder at the document.

Zephyrus just shook his head in dismay. "Why do I have a feeling that the soldiers of Briggs were behind this? They are the only ones who already called me that since I was a kid."

"Because it is more than likely true." Everyone in the room replied.

"At least you didn't get one like mine." Ethan replied. "I think that my scaring the senior staff resulted in this."

"What?"

"I am now known throughout Amestris as the _Graveyard_ Alchemist."

"Well you do tend to like mortuary like themes." Lisa said as she looked at hers. "What's a corona?"

"It's the circle of light that one would see around a sun, moon, or star."

"Oh, well that's a lot better than the combustion alchemist or something." Lisa replied happily.

**(-Ice Prince Alchemist-)**

"_**Hurry, the one I am giving back will awaken soon!"**_

"Oh shut up already." Zephyrus replied to himself he felt some kind of invisible pull to the outskirts of the city. It was still early in the morning, the sun was barely even up, and a layer of fog seeped throughout Central. "Just stop giving me so many nightmares you stupid door."

After what seemed like an eternity, the pulling finally stopped, and Zephyrus found himself in the military cemetery facing a tombstone.

**Maes Hughes**

"Zephyrus? What are you doing out here?"

Zephyrus turned and was surprised to see Roy and his uncle walking up to the grave, the former carrying fresh flowers.

"I couldn't sleep." He replied.

"So you decided to visit a cemetery?" Roy asked incredulously as he replaced the flowers.

Zephyrus looked at Roy with annoyance. "It just so happens that I try to pay my respects to the fallen every year. It's the least I could do."

"…I didn't even know you knew Hughes."

Zephyrus looked away and down at the grave.

"I only met him once when I was little. He was the one who help Mother to adopt me. It would be disgraceful if I don't pay my respects to him after he did so much."

The three stood there in silence for a few minutes before Alex spoke up.

"The sun is coming up, we should get back before people start wondering where you ran off to."

"You're right Uncle." Zephyrus replied as he turned to follow. "Let's go."

"Help me! Someone please let me out!"

The three men froze and slowly turned to face the grave they were just standing at.

"Did you just hear that?" Roy said uneasily.

"It was probably the wind." Alex said unsurely.

"Is anyone out there? Let me out! I'm still alive!"

As one they screamed.

"H-HUGHES?

"WHAT THE HELL?"

"Let me out of here!" yelled the muffled voice again, this time hitting the coffin below to make a reverberating thud, causing the flower vase on top to fall over.

"Quick! Dig him out!" Roy screamed as the three started to claw away at the grave.

"Wait a minute! What are we doing?" Zephyrus yelled, than clapped his hands before slamming them into the ground, causing the dirt to part like a cellar door. Mustang and Alex then ripped off the top of the coffin. They all jumped back as Hughes sat up in coffin and started to gasp for air.

"Seriously Roy? What did I do to piss you off that you would bury me alive?" Hughes demanded. "And how the Hell did you get Gracia to go along with it?"

The three just stared at Hughes in mute shock.

* * *

**Before the summer's end the name Ice Prince shall become legend across Amestris and the celebration of a new begin shall dawn.**

Next Time: **Protector of the People**

* * *

**OMAKE!- He's a Prankster?**

"Hey Miles."

"Yes Fred?" Miles replied as he looked away from the wall he was working on to the Weasely twins beside him.

"You said that you've known Zephyrus since he was little right?"

"Since he was four."

"Was he always like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like a wall of ice."

Miles just snickered. "Well actually, up until he was six, he was quite a prankster. But his mother reined him in after a certain…incident."

Fred and George stopped working and looked at the man in shock.

"Zephyrus…"

"…the cold Raven…"

"Was a prankster?" the Twins crowed. "No way!"

Miles just shuddered. "That boy…is craftier than the foxes of Briggs Mountains."

"What did he do?"

Miles just shivered. "Let's just say…after that weekend of terror, the Bears knew not to piss off Zephyrus. All it took were some empty paint cans full of used grease, and a raccoon. I'm just glad the General made him swear not to prank anyone in the military unless she said it was okay."

The Twins exchanged a look and then in unison said "We are so challenging him to a prank war."

If they had turned around they would have seen the soldier pale.

"May Ishvalla have mercy on your souls."

* * *

**OMAKE! – Mistaken Identity **

"Miles! Is this your son? He is so cute!"

Miles and Zephyrus simultaneously choked. They had gone to the Ishvalan refugee camp on the outskirts of East City to help find the people who would be moving to Ishval when Miles ran into an old childhood friend of his who took a very long look at Zephyrus.

"Just look at him! His hair is as snowy white as yours! I bet he gets those gorgeous blue eyes from his mother!" the young woman (whose name was Ruth by the way) chattered gleefully, completely ignorant of the two males staring at her like she grew a second head while Roy and Hughes were laughing their heads off behind them.

Elijah (formerly known as Scar) was not helping any either.

"Oh just wait until grandma hears that you actually married! She will be so happy!"

Miles finally snapped out of his stupor and his jaw dropped in horror as Ruth ran to one of the shacks and came out with an elderly woman who beamed at the sight of the two males.

"By Ishvala's grace; so you did marry. And a son! Congratulations!"

"What?"

"What did you say?"

"Miles married?"

"He has a son?"

"Really?"

Miles paled even more as practically everyone in the refugee came up to congratulate him and praise him for fathering such a handsome son, as well as blessing to his 'wife' and any future children they may have.

Both were too stunned to retaliate and Roy had passed out from a lack of oxygen.

2 Days later when Olivier came to get her first look at the restored city, she was very confused as to why she was receiving so many well wishes from complete strangers and asking if she and Miles planned on having another child soon. There was also a letter from her parents asking why they were not told about her being married.

Needless to say, Miles stayed far away from the Ice Queen when she came looking for answers.


	11. Protectors of the People

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Ch. 10 Protectors of the People

***~ (Central) ~***

Lisa had been walking down through the market district with Black Hayate. Her shopping satchel bumped lightly against her hip. She paused as she looked at one of the store windows.

"Oh look, there is another new romance novel by Elizabeth Eagle is out." Lisa said looking at the story display.

"Lisa is that you?"

Lisa turned and saw Denny Brosh and Maria Ross walking across the street.

"Hey guys. How's it going?"

"Lisa…your hair."

"My hair?"

"Why is the bottom part black?"

Lisa looked at her reflection. Her now stylishly cropped blonde hair had black ends, from what Madam Pompfrey explained it was because of the intense feelings she had channeled through her magic that caused a permanent change in her hair. Even after it was properly trimmed and grew out some, the bottom still remained black.

"Never mind the change in hair style, how have you been Lisa?"

"I'm doing fine. How about you two? How was it being stationed in the East?"

Denny laughed. "It was great; I really got to work on my tan!"

Maria lightly slapped him upside the head then turned back to Lisa. "Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. I didn't give you your birthday present in June when you came by Ishval."

"Oh no, don't worry about it." Lisa laughed softly. "It's no big deal, really!"

Suddenly Black Hayate growled and started to pull Lisa towards an adjacent alley. Then stopped behind a dumpster; waiting for Lisa and the soldiers to catch up.

"GET IN THE VAN!"

Lisa's eyes snapped over to three men shoving girls into the back of a delivery truck at gun point. Their clothes were in the style of Creta.

Maria gestured for her to stay back.

"Stop right there!" Maria yelled as she and Denny took out their guns. Lisa waited until the men turned before activating a sparkler pellet.

The men yelled as the little flames burst and exploded beneath their feet.

"What a bunch of chickens." Lisa muttered before she took a step back then vaulted over the dumpster, landing behind the men. She hit the smaller one hard behind the knees like Riza had taught her.

The third man, closer to the girls grabbed her and slammed her into the truck, but was then taken down by two bullets courtesy of Maria.

The second man had a gun and tried to outshoot them but Lisa used the transmutation circle on her bracelet to set his jacket on fire.

"Who are you?" the man asked as Denny handcuffed him.

"I'm Lisa Malfoy; the Corona Alchemist."

***~ (Central HQ) ~***

"YO ROY! How's it going?" Hughes yelled as he busted through the door into his colleague's office.

"Hughes, can you please stop doing that?" Roy asked dryly.

"Not a chance! I got three years to make up for!" the man laughed.

Everyone had been in shock when Hughes was revived. After they had dug him out of his tomb they took him straight to Armstrong Manor where they could come up with a proper cover story and break the news of his previous death to him.

They decided on telling everyone that Hughes' death had been falsified due to his attempted assassin being a former high ranking officer gone rogue. Because of the danger they had to put him in witness protection abroad and could not tell his family due because it could put them in danger as well. They couldn't afford to bring him back until they made sure that everyone involved was either in custody or dead. Only the ones who had fought on the Promised Day knew the truth.

It was so heartwarming to see him be reunited with his family.

The door flew open again as Feury came running in.

"Sir! It's Lisa!"

"What happened?"

"Calm down, I'm alive." Lisa said as she came in with Black Hayate.

Roy's eyes zoomed in on the bandage on her cheek and the darkening bruise on her right arm where her body had made impact with the kidnapper's truck.

"What. Happened?" he asked.

Lisa sheepishly laughed. "Funny story- I was out in the market with Black Hayate and we ended up stumbling on a trafficking ring."

Roy fought the urge to slam his head on his desk. It was like he was dealing with a younger Fullmetal all over again!

*~ (_Ice Prince Alchemist_) ~*

*~ (**Ishval**) ~*

"Everything is looking so much better." Fabian commented as he met with the Ishvalan elders.

"Yes, thank Ishvala that our city had been rebuilt."

While Fabian's team was stationed in Ishval it was mainly for security since Ishval was slowly growing into a trade route for Amestris between Aerugo and Xing. Fabian had met with their leader Prince Claudio and helped to reestablish the trade now that Bradley was gone and no longer forcing the two countries to fight one another.

Miles was back at Briggs permanently, but not before helping to train the new Ishvalan police force.

And even though Ethan was an alchemist he was accepted in the community since he admitted he only learned it as a way to protect the people.

"Yes, our people are now prospering back in the home of our forefathers." The Head Priest said. "It seems that the reopening of our home went fruitfully as well."

Fabian did his best to hold back a snicker. Many of the Eastern soldiers were entertained that day by seeing Miles trying to hide in the crowds from one very vexed Olivier Armstrong. In the end she managed to corner him on a rooftop where Roy and the other Eastern soldiers were having drinks, and then a very worn out, overheated Zephyrus snapped at them 'if they were going to act like a married couple then hurry up and tie the f*ing knot already'. Apparently the Ice Prince said very strange things when he was tired because the next morning he claimed to never remember saying it.

"Now, are there any new issues to discuss?"

"No Elder."

A monk in training came running in, gasping for air.

"Bandits sirs! Heading towards the city! Ethan is already moving to intercept!"

Without hesitation Fabian grabbed Elijah and another warrior monk then Apparated to the wall on the edge of the city.

While it had at first made them uneasy, the Ishvalans accepted Fabian's magic, some calling it a blessing from Ishvala; mainly because he used it during the civil war to keep the areas where a majority of the safe houses and orphanages were safe.

Unlike in other parts of Europe the few magic users could use their gifts openly as long as they did not harm anyone.

"Where are they?" Elijah asked one of the guards.

"Ten o'clock sir." The guard replied handing him his binoculars.

Fabian cringed as he could make out the silhouette of his son slowly walking towards the incoming jeep of bandits.

Down below Ethan calmly stood as the jeeps got closer.

"I would advise you to leave." He said calmly as the leader got out looking at him like he was a glutton for punishment.

"Listen sonny, the names is Bane, and we are the Black Spiders. And we are going to Ishval for some loot, so move unless you wanna die young."

Ethan blinked. He remembered that name. Prince Claudio had warned the Council about them; they were a gang of drug smugglers who went to new and old trader towns to spread their networks. They eventually would run those towns to ruin then move on.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ethan Prewett; the Graveyard Alchemist!"

The men stood no chance as Ethan started to unleash a barrage of alchemy attacks to send the jeeps flying and then started to beat the crap out of them with his fists.

When he was done he headed back to the city calling over his shoulder. "If you think that was bad, then be glad that it was _me_ and not the warrior monks."

*~ (_Ice Prince Alchemist_) ~*

*~ (**North City**) ~*

"Thank the Heavens! I'm home!" Zephyrus practically screamed to the dreary skies as he took in a breath of the frigid air. He loved the cold. It might have to do with his alchemy, but he couldn't stand the desert. Even the three days he had spent in Ishval for the final part of the Restoration Project had taken a toll on him. The Ice Prince could NOT STAND THE HEAT!

It was one of the hundreds of reasons that he would NEVER want to spend a summer in England. He heard from Luna how hot and muggy it could get, and he was not tempted to experience it for himself.

Which is why he thought it was evil for him to have gotten sent to Liore to help clean up the poisonous water problem. It had originally been to just keep it contained, but before he had arrived it had started to eat through the bedrock and seeped into the main water supply, causing a plague. A bit of freezing here, some phoenix tears in the water and in the people, and voilà! Clean purified drinking water! Plus, now where the church of Leto once stood was a lake that literally sparkled like diamonds in the moonlight.

INSTANT TOURIST ATTRACTION.

Right after he was sent to Aquaroya again to help Fullmetal finish a new foundation for the floating city; it was similar to the one that helps keep Venice afloat. All he had been doing was redirecting the water into temporary reservoirs of ice while the canals were reconstructed and refurbished.

"Hey let go!"

Zephyrus turned his head in the direction of the yell and saw a young woman being dragged by a very drunk older man in the direction of North City's bar district.

"Shut up woman! I'll do wat I want!" he yelled as he roughly shook her.

"I would advise you to let go of her sir, it's very ungentlemanly to manhandle a woman."

"Wat?" the man hiccupped then faced Zephyrus. "Stay out of this brat, unless ye want ta get beaten."

To try and prove his point he threw a half empty beer bottle at him, but it smashed on the building side.

"And here I was trying to be nice." Zephyrus sighed before darting forward. In a swift movement he shoved the man away from the woman and tossed him into a snow bank.

"Ye, gonna get it now brat!" the man snarled as he tried to get up and fight, only to slip back into the snow.

Thankfully his buddies nearby had seen what was going on and took him away.

No one sane and sober wanted the wrath of the Armstrong family on them. The Ice Queen's alone was a death sentence in itself.

"Are you okay Miss?" Zephyrus asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." The woman replied as she gently brushed off the snow off her woolen skirt. "Thank you – umm...I'm sorry I never got you name."

"I'm Zephyrus Armstrong; the Ice Prince Alchemist." He then turned and head back to the main road. "Have a nice day Miss."

As Zephyrus left the woman's jaw dropped.

"So that's the elusive Phantom of Briggs." She whispered in awe.

When Zephyrus arrived at the outpost Alfred was waiting for him, while reading a newspaper sent to him by his friend stationed in South City.

"Hey Boss listen to this; Liore has created a statue and placed in the center of what has now been dubbed Angel Lake; the city's newest manmade tourist attraction."

"That's nice." Zephyrus replied as he climbed into the army truck.

"Mayor Rose claims that it was created in dedication to the Alchemist that came and healed the city from a plague."

Zephyrus twitched as Alfred showed him the picture that was in the clipping. It was a simply white marble statue of him in the desert clothing he had been wearing, but luckily the cape he had been wearing then was made to form a sort of hood to shadow his face.

"Citizens have stated that for ending the epidemic by his miracles they plan on naming this alchemist the city's protective saint."

Zephyrus' head then painfully met the dashboard.

***~ (**_Ice Prince Alchemist_**) ~***

"An escaped serial killer?"

"Yes, his name is Sirius Black. A wizard."

"Wizard?" Ethan repeated in confusion as he read the file. "Why would they ask us to help then? I know Dad mentioned that they have a liaison division with the M.O.M."

"Yes well, this man is not only a wizard and a killer, but he is also believed the one who gave away the location of the Potter's safe house to their murderer."

Ethan paled. "The Potters…You mean Zephyrus' birthparents?"

"Yes, and according to a guard Black maybe coming after Zephyrus next." Hughes said as he flipped through the file. "Since you could track down the Heir of Slytherin, I was hoping you could help in investigating Black. Apparently the liaison between the investigation branches is virtually non-existent, so they were hoping you could act as a go between."

"No problem." Ethan said as he closed his file. "Sir, this may be redundant, but what about Zephyrus?"

"Zephyrus is still assisting in the search for Flamel. He will be warned of the danger, but other than that he will not take part in this investigation. Sergeant Jones of Northern Command will be going with you as part of a two man protection detail. A British officer named Arthur Kirkland will be joining you as well in England. He's a wizard who works in the Royal Guard. Also there is one other thing."

"Yeah?"

"Has your father ever mentioned Dementors?"

* * *

**Tension and fear spreads throughout the Wizard World as Sirius Black remains on the run and painful memories are forced to surface. **

**Next Time: ****Nightmares **

"_**You learned to run from what you feel, and that's why you have nightmares. To deny is to invite madness. To accept is to control." **_

― _**Megan Chance**_

* * *

**OMAKE- Ed Finds out**

"_Alright you bastard! Why did you call me out here?" Ed yelled as he was led by the butler into the sitting room. "You made me miss my train dammit!" _

"_Calm down Fullmetal, I called you here for a good reason." Mustang replied. _

"_Ed is that you?" _

_Ed's jaw dropped as he saw Hughes sitting next to Alex. He looked around then spotted his student. _

_Without hesitation he grabbed his pupil and slammed him into a wall. _

"_What. Did. You. DO?" he hissed murderously. _

"_I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" the teen yelled as he shoved the older one back. _

"_BULLSHIT! YOU COMMITTED HUMAN TRANSMUTATION DIDN'T YOU?"_

"_NO I DIDN'T!" Zephyrus yelled "I'm not an idiot!"_

"_Then how do you explain that!" Ed yelled pointing at Hughes. _

"_That?" Hughes repeated in disbelief._

"_The Gate gave him back!" Zephyrus snapped back. _

"_Why the Hell would it do that?"_

"_Well apparently I did it a favor unknowingly, and gave it something similar to what I had given up in your stead!"  
"So…Roy really didn't bury me alive?"_

_"FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME NO!"_

* * *

**OMAKE –Birthdays **

_Al was enjoying his eighteenth birthday and laughing with all the guests. The only thing that would have made it better was if Ed and his student were here. He and Zephyrus were on their way up from Aquaroya where they had been sent on a mission. _

_SCCCRRREEEECCCCCCHHHHH!_

_They looked over to the road in shock as a bullet ridden; old Volkswagen van was flying up the road and then sharply turned. The sliding door slide off as it came to a stop near the Elric's house, and Ed flew out, landing in front of the party guests holding a very terrified looking cat._

"_Happy birthday little brother..." Ed said dizzily as he got up and handed the cat to Al, then fell face first on the grass. _

"_What happened?" Winry asked as she helped her boyfriend up while Al, Elysia, and Curtis children fretted over the poor traumatized cat. _

_They looked up as the driver's door slammed shut, and saw Zephyrus who looked like he was torn between amusement, and annoyance. _

"_And why was Zephyrus driving?" Havoc added. _

"_Because he doesn't know how without driving into a ditch." The teen replied as he pointed at Ed. _

"_OH COME ON! THAT WAS ONE TIME!"_

"_Since when can you drive a car?"Riza asked. _

"_Please it's no different than driving a tank." Zephyrus replied. _

_Then the axles of the van creaked, and broke, causing the vehicle to fall to the ground and one of the tires started to roll away down the dirt road. _

"…_Mostly…" _

_Granny Pinako tilted her head curiously. "Where did you get that car? It looks like it was stolen from a junk yard." _

_Ed and his pupil blankly stared at her. "It was." _

"_But it was scheduled to be crushed anyway, so we __shouldn't__ get arrested." _

_Hughes didn't know whether to laugh or wonder if he should be listening at all. "So what happened, and will there be any chance that you two are going to be in trouble for?" _

_Zephyrus then pointed at his teacher. "Long story short, we stopped in town to get Al his gift this morning, but were then grabbed by a group of thugs who took up to their hideout in the junkyard thinking that they could hold us hostage. While he and the cat beat them up and destroying their hide out, I was… appropriating us a ride back. Those guys wouldn't let Ed go easily so we had to use evasive maneuvers to get out." _

"_You drive like a mad man!" Ed muttered as the world finally stopped spinning. _

"_I do not." _

"_Oh yeah? Then why did you make me ride on the roof for TEN KILOMETERS before stopping to let me in?" Ed deadpanned. _

_Zephyrus looked up slightly to face his teacher at eye level. "You…are the one who jumped on the roof as soon as I got the engine running and yelled 'DRIVE! DRIVE!' at the top of his lungs!" _

_The teen then face palmed. "I…am __never__ going shopping with you again Fullmetal. Every time I tag along on a 'simple errand' it turns into disaster!" _

"_It's not like I plan for them to!" _

"_You know…this has to be most amusing birthday party ever." Roy commented as Ed and his apprentice started to argue. _

"_Guys…about the car…"_

"_FIX IT AND IT'S ALL YOURS WINRY!" the two alchemists snapped._

* * *

**A/N: ****Well my exam week is here. I am going to try and update once more before Saturday since my internet connection is shoddy in my poor little home town. **

**Al's birthday is never confirmed in the story line so I'm using June for the sake of the story. **

**If you want me to mention a Hetalia character name in this I can, just put it in your review or PM it to me if you want them as a soldier/alchemist/civilian or do a temporary appearance. Because I plan of have Zephyrus teasing Alfred & Arthur relentlessly whenever they argue! **


	12. Nightmares

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Ch. 11 Nightmares

"Detective Williams, you were the lead investigator on the Black case?"

"Ah yes, the Sirius Black case. Terrible thing. Supposedly murdered twelve innocent bystanders in a gas explosion."

"Supposedly sir?" Ethan asked as he and Lisa compared the file from Scotland Yard's archives to the one the one from the Ministry of Magic archive, including a copy of the auror's on scene.

"Yes. According to Dr. Mallard, our medical examiner at the time, the burns from the explosion were all postmortem."

"So if they were already dead, then what the cause of death?" Lisa asked.

"Unknown." The detective said with a sigh. "Dr. Mallard couldn't find anything, no trace of poison, injuries. It was as if all twelve of their hearts just stopped beating all together at the same time. Even after twelve years we still haven't been able to find any substantial evidence to link him to the murders."

"Wait, twelve? On this other file by investigator Mason; it says thirteen." Lisa said pointing out the differences.

"Oh?" the detective questioned in surprise. "But only twelve bodies were recovered."

Lisa skimmed the victims list. "Umm, according to this one the thirteenth victim was a man named Peter Pettigrew. But all that was found of him was a finger."

Ethan looked through the Auror's notes. "Yeah, according to this they believe that he was the closest one to the center of the explosion."

"Codswollop!" Williams snapped before snatching the file and pointing out a picture of a severed finger. "If he was in the dead center then there would be no way for his finger to have such a clean incision! This was more than likely planted at the crime scene."

"What happened to the finger?" Lisa asked.

"It was given back to Pettigrew's family upon their request for a 'burial'."

Lisa and Ethan exchanged a look before thanking the man for reading them up on the case and then left the office.

"So what do you think?"

"Pettigrew's finger was most defiantly planted." Ethan said grimly. "I've seen sites where there victims in close range explosions. You don't find clean cuts like that."

Lisa looked away from her friend. "Oh yeah, you grew up in the East during the Ishvalan War. You saw what those kinds of weapons can do."

"Not just weapons." Ethan added quietly before they got in the taxi. "But the monsters that carried them too…"

The two returned to the hotel where Zephyrus was reading from a book while Alfred and Arthur were viciously playing what appeared to be poker. To their surprise instead of being dressed like he would normally be in dark clothing with boots, he was dressed more like a causal teenager in a short sleeved buttoned shirt with dark denim jeans and low rise sneakers.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…it's just weird to see you dressed…"

"Casual?"

"Yeah…"

"Shut up." Zephyrus snapped as he tossed him book aside. "What did you two learn?"

"Well the Auror's crime reports and Scotland Yard's don't match up." Ethan said as he laid out the reports. "Scotland Yard could only identify twelve bodies at the scene; all that was found of Pettigrew was a finger."

Zephyrus skimmed the notes then look at the photos. "Hmm, this finger wasn't cut off by a blade."

"How can you tell?" Arthur asked curiously.

"There are no marks on the flesh to indicate that it was made by a blade." Zephyrus said showing him the picture.

"Hmm, that's true." Alfred said as he looked at the photo then turned to Arthur who looked confused. "So are there spells that can several something that precise?"

"Several, but at this close range it would have to be the Cutting Curse _Diffindo_." He answered with a frown. "But if the Aurors should have been able to detect it if they cast a spell sweep in the area."

"With all the mayhem going on that night do you really think that the responding Aurors did their jobs right?"

"After reading this report it's unlikely. What does Black's court testimony say?"

"There wasn't one." Lisa replied. "We searched the entire archive, and even asked the Goblin's law branch, but there was no court record on file, not even an arrest report."

"So they just shipped him off to Hell on Earth without a trial?" Ethan asked incredulously.

Arthur grimaced. "And this is the exact reason why when the Royal Charter was first written the monarchy wanted to keep the trials under the Crown's domain. In order to ensure that all cases were prosecuted entirely. Especially in the case of non-magical citizens being murdered by wizards. "

"So this has happened before?" Zephyrus asked.

"Regretfully." Arthur said with a sigh. "Several families, a majority being pureblood or well connected to a politician will 'make a donation' the day before their trial to the Ministry and then all the charges will be dropped. A lot were seen during the Death Eater trials in the early ninety's. Only the ones who the Crown and other influential families demanded persecution of were actually imprisoned."

"So this community is run by the corrupt." Zephyrus stated. "No wonder their ideas of humanity is so distorted if these are the ones who are allowed to remain in power."

"I thought that the Minister of Magic was elected, like the Prime Minister?" Lisa asked.

"They are. But the candidates have to be suggested by the Wizenagomot …and majority of the members are-"

"Old families." Ethan finished. "But Black is one of the Ancient and Noble families. So Sirius' lack of a trial had to come as an order from the Ministries' upper echelon or an outside political figure."

"So we've uncovered a potential conspiracy while looking for clues to a killer." Lisa groaned. "Why can't life be simple?"

"Because if it was then it would be boring." Alfred muttered dis-heartedly. He sighed then jumped up excitedly making everyone stare. "Well now that we got this boring stuff out of the way, can we _please_ go to Diagon Alley Chief?"

"Fine." Zephyrus sighed as he got up to grab his pouch of Galleons. "Come on you two, you need a break. Jones!"

"Sir?"

"Keep the excitement to a minimum or you will give away that you're guarding me."

"Yes, sir." Alfred said calmly.

'_The way he changes from hyper to serious…I wonder if he gets whip lash.'_ Arthur thought.

_*~ (Ice Prince Alchemist) ~*_

"Purebloods brats are by far the most annoying snot nosed brats ever." Alfred commented as he and Arthur finished a patrol of the train.

"That's because they are generally raised in cloistered environments and very rarely make any kind of interaction with the non-magical community." Arthur replied.

"That can't be healthy." Alfred replied. "If they live like that their entire lives then they will be more susceptible to the dangers that lurk in day to day life."

He paused before asking.

"Aren't you pureblood?"

"I am, but we Kirklands are considered blood traitors because we live in the non-magical community and never create any kind of alliance with any families."

"Well that explains why the little toe rags are glaring at you too." Alfred retorted when all of a suddenly the train screeched to a stop.

A cold chill seeped through train cars; the rain that had been gently drizzling down now began to hit windows like bullets. The thunder reverberated like cannons in the passageways.

"What's going on?" Alfred asked as he upholstered his gun and got ready to deal with any potential hijackers.

"Bloody Hell; Dementors!" Arthur gasped as he noticed the cloaked creatures climb aboard the train. Seeing one approach a carriage he pointed his wand at it. "_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!"

A silvery lion burst from his wand and tackled the Dementor then threw it out of the train. One approached Alfred who shot it twice in the chest.

"It's no use! Nothing but a Patronus can hurt them." Arthur snapped as he directed his Patronus to shield the other soldier. "Don't let them get close; they can suck out your soul!"

Alfred's eyes widen in horror then looked down the train to the carriage where Zephyrus was. A small cluster of Dementors were heading that way. "Oh no; Chief!"

"What's going on?" Lisa gasped as she felt a wave of despair flood throughout her body. The three had been chatting with Luna and Neville when the train had suddenly lurched to a stop and the windows all frosted over. And it wasn't Zephyrus' fault!

Neville and Luna whimpered as the room got dark and they began to hear voices screaming in their minds.

Ethan began to pant as he heard screaming in his mind.

"_No! Grandpa!"_

"_Stay in there Ethan! Hush now!"_

"_Grandpa!" _

"_Well, well, lookie here. Another Ishvalan."_

"_Leave here Alchemist! There are no fighters in here! Just this tired old man." _

"_But you're here aren't you? _

"No…No! Leave him alone!" Ethan whimpered as he tried to cover his ears. "Leave him alone you monster! Grandpa…please!"

"Ethan! Ethan snap out of it!" Lisa cried as the glass in the carriage frosted over. She reached over and tried to shake him out of it. "Ethan!"

"Blood." He whimpered as he furiously rubbed at his hands. "So much blood."

Zephyrus shuddered as the door to the compartment opened by a decomposed hand. This cold was nothing like he had grown up in. It made him feel so much despair that it was almost as if he had fallen into a frozen lake and was slowly drowning as phantom hands dragged him down to the darkness.

_Hundreds of voices and images were rushing through his mind as he was dragged through an abyss. He heard a familiar voice screaming for him…but then he couldn't remember who. Then as quickly as the voice came it vanished just as his small body was flooded with pain. _

"Get out." He huffed as he tried to grab the knife tucked into his boot but found that his body seemed to be petrified. Grimacing he fought to regain control. "Get out."

_He tried to move but was too weak. It was then he noticed he was lying in the white room again, and there was a large pool of blood seeping from his body. _

The creature howled lowly then entered.

"Get out." Zephyrus gasped as his clammy hands managed to get a grip on the handle and pulled it out of its hidden holster

The Dementor paused then turned to look at Zephyrus. It reached down to him.

_So much blood. _

"GET OUT!" Zephyrus roared as he broke through the spell of despair and plunged the knife into its chest.

The Dementor howled in anguish and tried to grab his neck but was hit by a silver lion and wolf.

"Excellent work Professor Lupin; glad to know someone competent was hired this year." Arthur stated as he and the mousy haired man banished the rest of the Dementors.

Gasping for air Zephyrus fell to the compartment floor on his knees, one hand gripping the knife still in his hand, and the other on the upper part of his jacket as if he was trying to stay warm.

'_Those memories…was that…when I saw the Gate of Truth?'_ Zephyrus asked himself in shock.

"Ethan are you okay?" Arthur asked as he gently helped the teen sit up.

"I remembered the Ishvalan Civil War." Ethan said with a shudder as he pulled his legs close to his chest. "I remember that night that my grandpa was killed by Kimblee right in front of me!"

"What was that?" Neville asked.

"Dementors, they guard the Wizard prison of Azkaban." Professor Lupin replied as he handed them some chocolate to help get rid of their tremors.

"Why the Hell are those _things_ here?" Zephyrus demanded of Arthur. "I thought that you two were going to be in charge of security."

"I don't know." Arthur replied, trying to keep his anger at bay. "Dementors are rarely ever called away from Azkaban, and if they are it is by order of the Wizengmot or the Minister of Magic."

"So this is the work of ether Dumbledore or that incompetent fool Fudge!" Zephyrus huffed as he rubbed his shoulders for warmth.

"I would say that you shouldn't say such things about the Headmaster." Professor Lupin said as he handed a piece to Zephyrus. "However, I must agree with you about the Dementors Mr-"

"Armstrong. Zephyrus Armstrong." The teen replied as he holstered the knife into his boot again. "All I want to know is who the Hell was the idiot who allowed for such dangerous creatures to get this close to the school."

*~ (Ice Prince Alchemist) ~*

That night in the Third Year Gryffindor girl dorms when everyone had fallen asleep Lisa had carefully slipped out of her bed and over to her trunk and gently lifted out a small covered cage.

After crawling back behind the safety of her canopy surrounded bed she gently lifted up the velvet draped to look inside at the small green reptilian like creature curled up on a heating stone. A small amount of thin white bandages had been carefully wrapped around its midsection. Were it not for the tiny teeth poking out of its jaw it could easily have resembled a gecko.

"Hey little guy are you awake?" she whispered.

The creature lazily opened one of its eyes. "The rock is cold."

"Sorry about that." She said quietly as she tapped the rock to cast a warming charm. "Did the Dementors hurt you?"

The gecko just nodded. "Felt so cold."

"Sorry about that." Lisa replied as she checked the bandages then placed the cage beside her pillow. "Good night little guy, I'll give you a name tomorrow, okay?"

**Fear and misery can cause even the bravest to freeze in anguish. Some are hard to confront while others you want to keep buried in the deepest corners of your mind. **

**Next time: Facing Fear**

"**When fear ceases to scare you, it cannot stay." ~ Gary Zukav**

**OMAKE- Zephyrus the Quidditch Demon?**

"_Hey Fred?"_

"_Yeah George?"_

"_What do you think would happen if we taught Zephyrus to play Quidditch?" George said as he and Fred watched Zephyrus and his friends from above as they circled the field. _

"_Other than him getting an excuse to hit someone?" _

"_So if he did, what position could he play."_

"_Not Beater, he could kill us all."_

"_Seeker?"_

"_Two words. Human bullet." _

"_Chaser?"_

"_Maybe…" _

"_Keeper?"_

"_Hmm...that would probably be safer." _

"_Unless you were the Chaser." _

**A/n: YES! FINISHED FINALLY! I wanted to update this sooner, ARGH, ALMOST A WHOLE MONTH! I was actually aiming for yesterday but got sidetrack. Thanks for the reviews everyone! Also I've been going back and reediting some chapters so if you see changes you'll know why. **

**P.s. if you can guess who the gecko is you get a cyber-high five. PM if you have ideas for the names, okay?**


	13. Facing Fear

Ice Prince Alchemist

9foxgrl

Facing Fear

* * *

**Yeah, yeah if you recognize the oc mentioned names I know, Hetalia, I suck at making up names so I'm just choosing them at random. **

**I do not own the following; Fullmetal Alchemist, Harry Potter, or brief mentions of Hetalia.**

* * *

"So will this really work around magic?" Ethan asked as he watched Zephyrus carefully welded a small crystal into the circuit board of an old radio.

"It should." Zephyrus replied as he stopped welding and removed his goggles for a moment to check his work. "Hans took apart the wizard radio and found that they used a large crystal as the receiver in place of wiring. So we've did a test trial with our radios between us and Jones, and it works. So, if I put this in right, it should allow us access to outside stations."

Ethan smirked. "It never ceases to amaze me that you're an engineering prodigy."

Zephyrus smiled softly before saying; "I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a prodigy

"Well how many kids our age are already certified engineers?"

Zephyrus paused a moment. "Well, Ms. Rockbell was…and I think there was Gilbert's little brother Ludwig…but he was fifteen when he got fully certified. Then there was Berwald over in Baschool…"

Ethan just face palmed in chagrin. "I was being rhetorical Zephyrus."

"I figured as much." He replied, ignoring at Ethan practically face faulted while started to put the radio back together.

The two boys were in one of the abandoned classrooms on the third corridor, a midway point between their two dorms. The three Amestrians had begun to make use of it in their second year as a way to separate from their classmates in order to study and converse in peace.

"So does it work?" Ethan asked as Zephyrus connected to radio

"Let's see…"

_'The West Ham captain Steve Potts has signaled for a time out_-'

"Well, we've got a sport's station." Zephyrus stated as he fiddled with the knobs.

"Dean will be happy." Ethan replied. He jumped a bit as lightning cracked outside. It had been pouring down rain since early that morning. "It's sure raining a lot this year."

"Arthur said that it's the Dementor's dreary aura causing it." Zephyrus stated with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Well, at least if Black does try to attack you, you will have plenty of ammo to work with."

Zephyrus just muttered an inaudible reply as he located two political stations, one playing the best of the Beetles and an old radio mystery drama before turning the electronic off.

"Hey guys!" Lisa gasped as she ran into the room. "Sorry I'm late; I had to return a library book then I ran into Hermione down the corridor."

"Did she bother you again?" Ethan asked.

Lisa sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Well…no. She just wanted to apologize to me for not sticking up for me last year and asked if she could join our study sessions on Ancient Runes in the library tomorrow evening.

"It's fine with me." Zephyrus said as he packed up his mini tool kit.

"Me too." Ethan replied before hopping off the table he was using as a seat. "And you haven't missed much. Zephyrus was just working on his gadgets again."

"Hey, who are they?" a little voice from her bag asked. Lisa jumped and looked down to see her new pet poking his head out of her bag.

"What are you doing here? HUSH!" Lisa scolded as she tried to shove the lizard into her satchel. While she trusted them, she wasn't sure of how they would react to the fact that her new pet was not entirely…reptilian. At least if the name he gave her was anything to go by.

"Lisa?"

Lisa turned, and saw Zephyrus and Ethan staring at the lizard.

"Y-yeah."

"Lisa…what is that?"

"This is…err, it's…my new pet!"

"Hey! I have a name! It's Envy!" the lizard snapped.

The two boys stared in silence, until Zephyrus drew a hidden small knife from under his wrist bracer.

"Lisa; that's a Homunculus." He warned.

"I know!" Lisa said defensively.

"And you're keeping it?"

"He's not evil anymore!"

"How do you know?"

"I just do!"

"Wait!" Ethan said with a paused. "You know…by a sense of feeling?

"Huh?"

"You feel his emotions?"

"Kind of, that's how I found him when we were in Diagon Alley. I just felt him…"

Ethan pondered then turned to Zephyrus. "What if he's Lisa's familiar?"

"You're joking!" he retorted in disbelief.

"You can feel Valkyrie's presence ever since she hatched."

Zephyrus pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

"Fine…but YOU are going to tell Roy about this!"

Lisa's widened. "Hey! Let's not get crazy!"

"You live with him, so you have to tell him about your familiar."

The three then settled to finish up on their essays on red caps for Lupin when the Twins poked their heads in.

"Hey Zephyrus, you're good at fixing things right?"

"Yeah."

They came in, gently dragging in a tearstained Hufflepuff first year holding a broken music box in her hands.

"Mummy sent it to me…and they broke it…" she whimpered as she handed it to him.

Zephyrus gently took it from her and opened the polish wooden box to find the mechanical interior in pieces, with several cogs missing, and what must have once been a crystal ballerina smashed.

"Who broke it?" Lisa asked as she handed the sniffling girl a tissue.

"Some sixth year in Slytherin."

"But don't worry-"

"-We pranked him good."

Zephyrus turned and gave the girl his best gentlemen smile. "Don't worry, I'll have it fixed before dinner."

Her eyes lit up. "Thank you!"

"Can you really fix that?" Ethan asked as the girl and the Twins left. "It's in more pieces than a smashed egg."

"The ballerina will have to be fixed with alchemy, the rest I can do by hand."

"Why not use alchemy to fix the entire thing?" Envy inquired from his new perch on Lisa's shoulder.

Zephyrus lightly huffed in amusement as he took out his tool kit again and started to gingerly set aside the crystal fragments. "Like with magic, if you use alchemy for every little thing you become dependent on it for life. Besides, I may be an alchemist but I was an engineer first."

The two Easterners exchanged a look. Like Zephyrus they all had a hobby or skill that they never wanted to give up on even when they started to learn magic and alchemy. Ethan was an artist; specialized mainly with pottery and Lisa, liked to cook. Even now they kept their skills sharp at Hogwarts as best they could.

Zephyrus would offer to fix anything mechanical, and even on occasion assisted Filch in making a repair or two in the castle.

Ethan would sometimes wander off to the Room of Requirement and create some of his best work. Some would give to friends as gifts or sold in Amestris in the little shop his mother and grandmother ran.

After finding out about the kitchen from the Twins; Lisa managed to convince the House elves to let her help cook. Using the excuse that it helped her keep her mother's memory alive.

"Hey, let me take a crack at the figurine." Ethan said as he took out some paper and started to draw a transmutation circle.

Lisa smiled and then started to head to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"The kitchens. You two might end up working through lunch so I'll grab you guys something. How does some sandwiches and lemonade sound?"

"Throw in some of your fruit salad and it's golden!" Ethan cheered.

***~(Ice Prince Alchemist)~***

Dumbledore silently seethed as the students slowly trickled in for dinner. His attention was drawn towards the white haired Ravenclaw sitting at the seat farthest from the head table with his closest friends. The 'Prodigy Trio' as some of his colleagues had dubbed them since they all showed the potential to be great in the future.

He watched as a first year happily hugged the Raven when he returned to her a music box to the surprise of many he didn't yell at her but gently pried her off and waved her away.

Harry Potter, or rather as he was known now as Zephyrus Armstrong.

His rebellious pawn was intelligent, the top Ravenclaw student and overall in his first and second year, even surpassing Gryffindor's genius Hermione Granger. The boy was a soldier, and leader. He was the model of efficiency, no doubted how _that woman_ raised him to be. He didn't view the world as Dark and Light, blood status and lineage meant nothing to him.

He saw the person for who they were and not for their background. While that was a good quality for a wizard to have, the boy favored his life in the non-magical community and would defend his preference of using non-magical alternatives for solving problems.

Whilst he was chivalrous and noble as he had hoped the boy would have been, he was also cunning, and loyal to those who had earned his trust.

It would be easiest to just Obliviate the boy and remold his mind towards a more suitable direction he couldn't. The boy was not just a student, but a foreign good will diplomat. So if he attempted to force him to stay against his will then it would give the non-magical community to storm the school and stain his name for years.

Now it was even enough that with Sirius Black's escape that it gave reason for the boy to have a guard in the castle. He had a person he would ensure any attempts to control him would be stomped out and reported.

Even his backup plan of using Neville Longbottom was out of reach. A week into the new term the boy was withdrawn by his grandmother and sent abroad for an apprenticeship to a man he didn't know or had any connections to.

If only he had a way to control him, to find out his worst fear and use it against him. But the boy kept to himself, using a façade of an icy personality as a shield for any possible weaknesses.

'_Fear…yes that's it!' _

Smiling slightly Dumbledore turned to the Remus. "Are you planning on teaching the students about Boggarts this year?"

"Yes, I had hope to start next week. That's if of course Mr. Filch can help me in locating one."

"I think that I may be able to get ahold of four Boggarts before lunch tomorrow, but in the spirit of inter-House relationships why not host the lesson for the third years together? Here in the Great Hall?"

Remus raised a brow. "Are you sure that would be wise? I still remember the fierce rivalries, even when Quidditch season hadn't even started."

"Why not? After all, what better way of learning to face one's fear head on then with the encouragement of their friends?"

"I suppose-"

"Excellent! I shall set it up."

As promised Dumbledore did manage to get ahold of four chests containing Boggarts and after lunch the next day, vanished the tables then levitated the chests to four circles near the head table.

"Hello everyone, if the Third Years could please separate into four separate lines so that we can begin our Defense of the Dark Arts lesson for today. Any student who does not have class this period is welcome to stay to observe, provided you remain in the back of the room and do not interrupt." Dumbledore said aloud as the students began to separate.

"Thank you Headmaster." Remus said as the students finished moving. "Now, this is a group lesson, far larger than I had originally anticipated of teaching at once, so I would advise you to please listen carefully. Now, today, we will be learning about Boggarts, who can tell me what a boggart looks like?"

Not surprisingly Hermione raised her hand first.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"No one knows Professor. Boggarts are shape shifters; they take on the form of what frightens us the most. That's why they are so-"

"Terrifying yes." Remus finished for her as the chests started to shake. "Now there is a simple spell to repel a Boggart. Please repeat the incantation after me, without wands! _Riddikulus_."

"_Riddikulus_." Everyone chorused.

"Very good, now once more; and say it very clearly. _Riddikulus_."

"_Riddikulus_!"

"Good job. Now, one at a time a person from each line will enter the circle to face the boggart. The key to defeating them is laughter. So I want you to think of what frightens you the most. Then face your fear head on."

Remus stood turned on a music player behind him, which started to play a funny jazz beat then signaled for the students to move forward before releasing the Boggarts from their chests.

One by one the students walked forwards. The boggarts shifted from giant spiders, to clowns, snakes, vampires, banshees, and one even turning into a giant lizard that a student identified as Godzilla.

'_They are doing so well, but why did Dumbledore want them to all go at once?_' he asked himself as Lisa approached the Boggart. He glanced briefly at the strange green lizard on her shoulder. But paid it no mind as she stepped into the circle.

The Boggart shifted until it turned into a man wearing a military uniform, similar to the one that the man Alfred on the train had worn, only his had more medals and carried two blood stained swords and an eye path barely concealing a glowing red eye.

Lisa paled; then pointed her wand and screamed "_Riddikulus_!"

The man vanished, and turned into pirate on a peg leg. She then practically sped walked to the end of the line as Ethan took her place.

The Boggart shifted again. This time it turned into a man with long dark hair also wearing the uniform, but was missing the jacket. He raised his palms towards Ethan and laughed manically.

"_Riddikulus!"_ Ethan shouted and the man turned into a cloud of fireworks.

Zephyrus slightly grimaced as he approached. Many of the other students stopped to watch what his fear could possibly be.

For a moment it seemed as if nothing was going to happen, but then the Boggart began to shift rapidly and then settled on a large stone door.

"A door? He's scared of a door?" someone yelled in disbelief.

Zephyrus' eyes widened as the door creaked open. Revealing a large eye that practically took up the entire abyss within. Staring at it a memory lazily dredged up from the dark corners of his mind.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT?" someone screamed.

_A frightened and confused child standing between two doors talking to a vague white figure before being dragging into the door behind him. Falling out of the door with barely any blood in his body._

'_Blood…that was it…_' he realized in shock.

Suddenly hundreds of shadowy hands shot of the door towards him. Zephyrus lashed out his wand and yelled "_Riddikulu_s!"

The arms warped into chains and began to wrap around the gate, slamming the door shut then constricting it so fiercely the door crumbled.

***~ (Ice Prince Alchemist) ~***

In Resembool Ed yawned as the grandfather clock behind him chimed that it was eight in the morning. The twenty one year one had been away since sunrise familiarizing himself with the layout of the Alchemy Research Department.

Just a month after his student received his certification Ed found out that he had been promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel and was placed in charge of the Alchemy Research branch. Initially he planned to turn it down and remind them that he was turning in his resignation but Winry and Al convinced him that this was a good way to ensure that the future of this country's alchemy would not be entirely combative based. So he agreed, but only if he was allowed to create a team to do a more thorough research on medical alchemy.

Grumman agreed.

"Brother are you okay?" Al asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ed said as he got up with a small yawn to stretch. Al's cat Winston jumped off the sofa as well and curled around his legs. "Just making sure I know what to expect before I have to transfer to New Hope and have to deal with that bastard again."

New Hope was a small growing town at a halfway point between East City and Resembool. It was once an abandoned mining town until some former alchemist and soldiers from the civil war changed that. It was going to be the new hub for the Research Department, particularly the alkehestry and medical division since the new train that headed to Xing pulled out of there.

"Winry should be happy that she's going to set up her own shop there."

Ed laughed. "So how long before you head off to Xing?"

"I'm hoping for next month. My body is finally strong enough to handle all the traveling. Neville can't wait to go and learn alkehestry either." Al said as Winston returned to him.

Over the summer Zephyrus had kept in contact with many of his associates in England to keep an ear out for what was going on. Not long after the state exam he received a letter from Neville that his family, mainly his Uncle Algie was planning to kick him out of the family and at the end of his third year since he was a 'disgrace as a Longbottom'.

Vexed, Al asked Zephyrus to invite Neville and his Gran to Amestris where he personally offered the boy to be his apprentice and come along to learn alkehestry with him. Neville agreed. It took Al most of August to convince his Gran. So later with her blessing, Neville dropped out of Hogwarts a week into the new term and moved to Resembool. So far he was showing some great promise with learning basic medicine with Granny Pinako. He was encouraged by this and was hoping that maybe he could learn a way of curing his comatose parents.

"So any luck on Flamel's research?"

Ed smiled sadly. "Its gruesome stuff…but I think we have something good out of it."

"What?"

"I believe I found a way to return any chimeras to full humans again." Ed said then started to explain how he used Flamel's chimera research and compared it to the book about Animagus that he had purchased the year before in England.

"So, by using this new research you think that they can become normal?"

"Yeah, I already proposed the theory to my team. We still have some of the messed up animal chimeras from Lab 3 and a few of Tuckers are still alive. If we can separate them, then we can try on the humans."

"It's risky." Al said uneasily.

"I know. That's why even after the trials I won't ask for them to participate against their will. It's going to be strictly volunteer based."

The two sat in silence for a moment before a burst of snow and silvery light came from above them, revealing Zephyrus' familiar.

"Valkyrie. How are you?" Al asked as the little phoenix dropped her letter in Ed's hands.

"Why are you talking to it like you're expecting a reply?" Ed joked.

"She's a magical creature! Maybe she can!" Al defended.

Ed just laughed then turned to his letter.

**Ed,**

**Remember two years ago when you asked me what the Gate took from me, and I said that I thought it was my initial appearance? Well with all these Dementors (creatures that force you to remember your worst memories) and just recently a Boggart (a shape shifter that turns into your worst fear) made me remember a little of what happened. **

**Ironic, that's my worst memory and fear apparently. **

**Blood.**

**That's what the Gate took from me. **

**I remember coming out of the Gate then it yanked out almost every pint of blood out of me. I'm not sure, but I think there is evidence to support it in my medical file. **

**Sincerely, **

**Zephyrus**

**p.s. Please tell Neville his friends say hello and that they hope that he is going well. **

"So what's it say?"

"He remembers what the Gate took. It was his blood. Almost every last pint."

"Then shouldn't he have died?" Al asked.

"Yeah, but he might have gotten an emergency transfusion. It doesn't explain why his appearance changed." Ed said inquisitively.

"…This is going to be one of your side research projects isn't it?"

"You know me too well little brother."

***~ (Ice Prince Alchemist) ~***

Zephyrus was acting more withdrawn that afternoon. Several people had asked him what that door was, even a concerned Flitwick.

"The stuff of nightmares, and I hope never to see it again." Was all that he said.

"Are you okay?" Lisa asked as they walked to the Great Hall to meet up with Hermione. The library had been packed, and it was still raining buckets outside.

"I'm fine." Zephyrus said tiredly then looked at them. "What about you two?"

"Same." She replied.

"Those Boggarts can really dredge up some bad memories huh?"

The three sat in silence until Hermione joined them.

"Who were they?" she sheepishly asked.

"Huh?"

"Those men that you two were afraid of?"

"I want to know that too." Draco said as he walked over.

Lisa broke first and ran a hand through her messy hair.

"You remember our first year that I said that my mom had died trying to stop a terrorist attack?"

Draco nodded.

"Well…that guy…He was her boss, and he was also one of the guys behind the attack…he was the one who killed her."

Hermione gasped and Draco seemed to tense up.

"Mine was the guy I saw murder my grandpa in front of me as a kid." Ethan sighed.

"Thankfully both of those monsters are dead." Zephyrus quietly added. Around them those who were listening in also hushed up.

Seamus suddenly came running into the Great Hall holding the evening edition of the Daily Prophet aloft. "He's been sighted! He's been sighted! Sirius Black!"

Hermione leaned over his shoulder as he slammed the paper down in front of the little group to get a look. "Dufftown? That's not far from here."

"Do you think he'd come to Hogwarts?" Lavender asked.

"With all the Dementors hanging around?" Ron replied incredulously.

"He's already escaped them once hasn't he though?" Seamus asked. "Who's to say he can't do it again."

"You're right; it's like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."

Zephyrus just huffed at the analogy. "I'm surprised that he managed to escape this far without any law enforcement catching him. It's disgraceful."

"What's wrong, you scared?" Ron teased. "Planning on running home? I wouldn't blame you, Neville barely lasted a week."

Zephyrus glared at him. "In case it missed your puny brain Ronald; Neville was personally asked to be an apprentice abroad."

"Studying what?"

"Healing." Ethan snapped. Once again his cousin was getting under his skin.

"And besides Ronald, I am not worried. Considering there are two soldiers stated near the school, one of which can put a hole from nearly two kilometers away."

"That's not possible! No one can do that!" An ease dropping Slytherin yelled with several of his year mates agreeing with him.

Zephyrus shook his head in dismay. "Obviously none of you have met a trained sniper. What's Hawkeye's record in the East Lisa? 1.2?"

"1.5 kilometers." Lisa replied. "But that was six years ago in the Civil War, so it may have improved."

"Yeah, and I think there is a soldier on your Uncle's team…who was it? Staff Sergeant Brosh with a distance of 1.25 kilometers?" Ethan added.

"What does you Uncle do?" Cho asked in shock.

"Criminal Investigations; the Special task force division." Zephyrus replied. "It's similar to our version of a SWAT team. They usually are called in to apprehend terrorists, serial killers, you know people who are too dangerous for the normal police to handle."

It's not like he was lying. Alex really did work in that department.

"What about your mother?" someone asked.

"What about her?" Zephyrus replied.

"Is she a detective too?"

Zephyrus pondered a moment on how to respond. "No, she's in the Infantry Development and Border Protection Unit."

Seeing the confused looks he dumbed it down. "She essentially oversees the development of new technology and the protection of our country's border."

"That's why you know so much about fixing things and how to fight?" a third year said in awe. Zephyrus just nodded.

"I still don't believe you! No way can muggles can kill someone from such a long distance without magic!" the older Slytherin yelled.

Zephyrus then glared at him before calmly saying. "In the aftermath of World War II it is estimated that roughly seventy million people died. Soldier and civilians alike. Roughly one million of them were muggleborn witches and wizards who dropped out of their prematurely education or left the magical community completely to help fight and protect their countries. In the last Wizarding War that ponce Voldemort and his followers was estimated to have killed eight hundred people, magical beings included. World War II last six years and one day. The Wizarding War last over twenty. From this numbers you can easily interpret that when it comes to war Muggles clearly can cause more damage."

The purebloods listening in paled.

"I highly doubt any of you purebloods know anything about the non-magical community except for what you have been told. And I even doubt that any of you have even met a muggle. It's sad on how ignorant you all are of the larger world. If you were to behave on these belives in the larger society you would be considered primitive or impudent."

With that the teen collected his books and headed off to his dormitory, once again leaving a stunned audience in his wake.

"So…whose up for our first Hogmeade trip tomorrow?"

* * *

**Criminals hide in the shadows and so does the truth behind a conspiracy. With Black drawing ever closer to Hogwarts new information must be divulged. Truth separated from lies. **

**Next Time: The Black Grim**

**The only way to concur fear is to stand up and fight it back.**

* * *

**OMAKE- Choosing a new name for Envy.**

"_Hey guys, can you help me rename my new familiar?" Lisa asked her friends as they sat outside near the lake front. They were enjoying one of the first dry, sunny days. _

"_You have a familiar too?" the Twins chorused in shock. _

"_This isn't right Forge!"_

"_I know Gred! We're being out done by twelve year olds!" _

"_You found your familiar?" Luna asked. _

"_Yeah, I found him when we came back to England." Lisa said as she pointed to the green gecko like reptile sitting on her shoulder. _

"_What kind of creature is it?" Fred asked poking it. _

"_Hey! Do that again and I will bit your finger off!" the creature. _

"_IT TALKS!" the twins chorused in shock. _

"_How about in five minutes we just pick a name each?"_

"_Okay." _

"_Okay, five minutes are up, so let's see what names you guys picked." The lizard said from his perch. _

_Ethan held up a note card with ITHAMAR._

"_Hmm…seems cool. Next?" _

_Zephyrus held up his card. MORPHEUS._

"…_Uh …next?" _

_Fred held his up. LOKI._

"_Don't give him any wrong ideas." Zephyrus said dryly. _

"_Well mine is out then." George said as he showed them PEEVES II. _

_Valkyrie chirped as she held a sheet with BOSCO written on it in her beak._

"_Bosco?" _

"_Hey wait! How does a phoenix write?" Envy yelled. _

"_Oh I helped her write one." Luna said dreamily as she showed them that she too picked BOSCO. "Oh, it would seem that we have both met Bosco." _

"_Well...okay…"_

"_Are we even sure that Envy is actually a boy?" Zephyrus asked. _

"_OF COURSE I AM!" the former homunculus shrieked. _

"_Hmm…You know what, let's go with Ethan's suggestion!" Lisa decided. "That way I can call you Mar for short in public!"_

***Ironically Ithamar means island of the palm tree***

* * *

**OMAKE- Mama Bear**

Dumbledore was a wise man, considered to be the most powerful man in Europe, despite holding no political office. Rumored to fear no one.

Except now.

He feared this muggle woman.

Olivier Mira Armstrong.

What did he do to piss this woman off so much?

Oh yes, he said that it would be best for 'Harry' to go and stay with his relatives in Surrey rather than return to wherever they lived.

"YOU HAVE TO BE INSANE IF YOU THINK THAT I WILL ALLOW ZEPHYRUS TO GO BACK TO THE BASTARDS WHO HAD ABANDONED HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"Please Madam, I am sure that young Harry-"

"YOU WOULD TRUST THEM TO TAKE CARE OF HIM FOR TWO MONTHS AFTER THEY ABANDONED HIM IN ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MOUNTAIN RANGES IN WESTERN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLIZZARD? AND SECONDLY MY SON IS ZEPHYRUS! I ADOPTED HIM, AND GAVE HIM A NEW NAME BECAUSE HE HAD NONE!"

"That's can't be possible!" Molly cried out from behind the woman radiating murderous intent.

"No it is." The white haired teen replied. "I had no idea what my name was at the time so Mother gave me a one."

"But Harry, your relatives-"

The boy suddenly glared at Molly, perfectly mimicking the cloud of promised doom radiating from his adoptive mother.

"My name is Zephyrus Armstrong! Harry Potter died the second he was abandoned to the Durselys! And in case you don't believe me or Mother about how terrible they were to me in the one YEAR that I was living with them I'm sure the doctor who treated me for pneumonia and hypothermia back then also documented the other injuries I had!"

"Injuries?" she said meekly.

"Broken wrist, multiple bruises, and some recently new and old lacerations." Olivier counted off as she remembered how pitiful a state the toddler had been in when she had found him trying to stay warm in a hollow log. "Frankly I'm surprised that you weren't picked off by the wildlife before I had found you."

"Please, I'm sure that it was all a simple misunderstanding-"Dumbledore tried to argue, but suddenly found that he was facing both of the Armstrong's death glares, including the glares of the two men who had accompanied her in storming his office after receiving word that Ethan had been petrified and Zephyrus & Lisa had gone missing minutes after Ginny had been taken.

"One does not **abuse** a child due to a simple misunderstanding." Olivier growled. "Now this is enough on the matter _Headmaster_; your authority ends here at the school grounds on matters of _academia_, and from what I have seen so far it is lacking."

"Our professors are the best in Europe!"

"With the exception of the buffoon who thought he could use my ward as a ticket to stardom I'm sure." The dark haired man named Roy interjected angrily. "Morally this school is doing very little to correct any misconceptions about non-magical ideals or subdue the racist ideals that are causing strife generation after generation. With enough time I'm sure you will end up being the Alma mater to the next 'Dark Lord' as you call them."

"If case it slipped your mind Dumbledore, the main reason I even allowed for Zephyrus to attend this _institution_ was a _political sign of good faith_ on our countries' behalf towards the _United Kingdom_!" Olivier stressed. "Had it not been for that then he wouldn't have come!"

"The same reason I allowed Lisa to come here." Roy added. "I'm sure we could have done just as well if Fabian or a private instructor tutored them."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence sir." Fabian replied as he stood between his son and sister. When they had arrived he had been nearing the point of shooting the man when his son stumbled in.

"Hogwarts is the finest magical school in Britain!" Molly chastised to her brother.

"It is the _only_ magical school in Britain Molly." Fabian retorted.

"Zephyrus, you are to return home as soon as the term ends. If you're not on that train then I will come back up here, with the Briggs Bears in tow!" Olivier snapped; the last part of her threat directed at Dumbledore. "**Fully armed**!"

While Dumbledore wasn't fully sure of what that meant he too jumped with Molly and Arthur when she stormed out, slamming the door so hard that it sounded like thunder.

_The moral of this lesson witches and wizards; you do not make any movements or actions of violence towards a bear cub, for while it can fight, it's mama bear will rip you to shreds. And sometimes, Mama Bear will bring the entire sleuth._

_***I was surprised that a group of bears is called a sleuth or sloth….Irony~?***_


	14. The Black Grimm

Ice Prince Alchemist

The Black Grim

9foxgrl

Hogmeade village could easily be described as one of those traditional looking Scottish villages that one would in a fairytale book or on a Christmas card. All it needed was the snow laden roofs and it could remind you of the Briggs village of Frost Cove. The trip luckily had been scheduled on a crisp autumn day. The last of the lingering touch of summer's warmth was slowly slipping away.

Making their way down the road from Hogwarts the Amestrian teens paused to look at the village form the cliff above.

"So where do we head off to first?" Ethan asked.

"Hold on a sec, I invited Hermione and the Twins to join us." Lisa said as she waved to the trio heading their way. Hermione was with them looking vexed.

"Your brother is a bullheaded incompetent nitwit!" Hermione snapped to the twins.

"I take it that you're referring to Ronald?" Ethan asked.

"In a certain light; Percy could qualify as well." Zephyrus said dryly. The teen had recently been taking his Head Boy duties too far.

"He seems to be of the belief that my cat Crookshanks is attempting to murder his rat!" She huffed as they walked down the path to Hogsmeade.

"Wait, you mean that old rat Scabbers?" Fred asked.

"I'm surprised that's still alive."

"He owns a rat?" Zephyrus asked in disbelief.

"You hate rats?"

"They are four legged vermin that carry disease. Back at Briggs we used to use them for target practice." Zephyrus said, they all paused and looked at him in shock. "…I was joking."

"YOU JUST MADE A JOKE?" the Twins screamed in shock.

"Calm down, you'll give each other heart attacks." He retorted.

"CHIEF~!" yelled a happy voice.

"Jones, what have I said about calling me that in public?" the teen tensed as the hyper soldier ran up to the group with Arthur lagging behind him.

"Come on Chief! It suits you!" Alfred said cheerfully as Arthur caught up to the hyper man. Thankfully for this mission they were dressed like civilians in order not to stand out around the students.

"Has he been that much of a pain?"

"Oh no; not at all." Arthur said with a wave. "Believe it or not most of the villagers would rather see him on patrol then a Dementor."

Alfred shuddered. "Those things are not cool!"

"Wait, how can you see them?" You're a Muggle!" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Whose this Chief?" Alfred asked as he pointed at her.

"Hermione Granger." Hermione replied.

"No clue! Maybe it's cuz I knew Chief since he was a tiny brat" Alfred said with a laugh.

"What did you call me?"

"Come on Chief! You really got to check this place out!"

Without hesitation he ignored Hermione and grabbed Zephyrus then started to drag him down the hill towards the village.

"Dammit Jones! I can walk on my own!" the teen snapped.

The main street of Hogmeade was filled shops of many kinds, many now being frequented by the students. There was the Three Broomsticks Bar and Inn, Honeydukes' Sweet Shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, and several more.

While the Twins went into Zonko's to refill their prankster supplies Hermione and Zephyrus went to Tomes and Scrolls with Arthur. Lisa, Ethan and Alfred wandered a little further down the lane.

"With all you read it's no wonder you're at the top of the class." Hermione said as she browsed idly through a book on household charms.

"Just because you read and memorize from several sources it doesn't mean that you're a genius." Zephyrus said as he looked at some of the older books. Experience from Diagon and Knockturn was that some wizards never saw what valuable knowledge they were neglecting in the used or outdated section. "Knowing and Doing are two completely different things."

"By the way Hermione, how is it that you're able to be in Arthimancy with Padma, but also in Ancient Runes at the same time?"

Hermione looked startled for a moment but quickly composed herself. "Don't be ridiculous Zephyrus, how can someone be in two places at once?"

Zephyrus just stared at her for a minute with a look of disbelief then resumed his browsing. So far the only interesting thing was a book on Animagus. He suddenly stopped as a faded blue book wedged between two older tomes caught his attention.

_The Principal Studies of Elemental Magic_

_Elle. F. Dante _

_c. 1898_

'_Elemental magic?'_ he thought as he browsed through it, careful not to damage the yellowing pages. There were several spells on water and ice magic. Fire spells, wind, metal, and earth. Some spells caused damage, powerful defenses; one spell used an illusion of flower petals to put its victim to sleep or in a hypnotized state; depending on the user.

'_This is perfect!'_ he said to himself.

"Find something good?" Arthur asked Zephyrus just showed him the title.

"I advise you to be careful with that." Arthur warned in a low whisper. "I would doubt you would be allowed to keep it if Dumbledore discovered it."

"Don't worry. He won't." Zephyrus said as he grabbed a book on Goblin History by a historian named Iron Shank before heading to the counter.

"Three Sickles and a Knut." The man grunted without even looking up from the Daily Prophet.

'_He obviously doesn't know the value of what he is selling.' _Zephyrus thought as he placed the coins down.

The two bookworms soon joined their group outside. Fred and George were eagerly showing off their new 'toys' to Alfred who was whispering to them about something. Ethan had gotten a few sweets and Lisa was gingerly holding a paper wrapped bottle that apparently she may have slipped into the seedy Hogs Head to get.

"Fire Whiskey." She said with a low whisper as she tucked it in her satchel. "I plan on giving it to Mustang for his birthday next week."

Zephyrus snickered. "I wish I could see his face when he drinks it!"

"Don't worry; I plan on asking for plenty of pictures!" she said with a mischievous smirk.

Zephyrus suddenly felt a drop of pity for Mustang. While he too had his mischievous side, he kept under control mostly. But Lisa…she could be as bad as Ed…And now if you added the reincarnated Envy to the mix.

He wondered if he could get front row seats to the show.

"So where to next?"

"What to check out the Shrieking Shack?" Hermione asked.

"The what?"

"Just one of –"

"-the most haunted buildings-"

"In all of Scotland." The Twins said with glee.

"Oh, you mean that run down old shack just down the road from the Hog Head?" Alfred asked curiously.

The Twins looked at him with glee.

"You've been?"

"This morning. Nothing scary there. Just a large shaggy black dog living in one of the rooms." Alfred said easily. He paused. "It's really boring in comparison to the Windy Pass."

"Since the Shack is no longer an option, let's go to the Three Broomsticks, for a quick nip to warm up."

"I didn't know you supported underage drinking Artie."

"Shut up Jones!"

The small group entered the bustling inn and managed to find a table hidden in the corner. Arthur talked to the bar keeper Madame Rosmerta who came by with a tray of butterbeers for them.

"So any news from the Yard?" Ethan asked Arthur in a low voice as the witch walked away.

"Other than finding out that the Aurors are severally backlogged with the Death Eater cases and several of said files have been either misplaced or stolen?" Arthur huffed. Apparently now the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was facing a secret inquiry by the Crown for negligence of justice.

"So do you all have anything planned for the Holidays?" Hermione asked.

"Going home." Zephyrus remarked.

"Same here." Lisa replied.

"We're supposed to stay over." Fred began.

"-But we're trying see if Dad-"

"Will let us visit-"

"Ishval again."

"Mom and Dad shouldn't have a problem with that." Ethan remarked. "I know my sisters won't."

"Are you taking Percy, Ron and Ginny with you?"

"Ginny; maybe."

"But Percy will be busy with his 'Big Head Boy' stuff, and Ron still doesn't want to accept that Uncle Fabian chose to be with a Muggle over his family." George added.

The group sat in silence for a few minutes before Alfred spoke up.

"It's nearly noon Chief; you want to head somewhere else?"

Zephyrus opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly gasped and placed a finger to his lips and subtlety nodded his head towards the door. The soldiers looked over and were surprised to see Minister Fudge, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, and lastly Hagrid.

Arthur casted a quick Privacy charm around them while Zephyrus tucked his white hair under his dark hat. Hermione looked like she wanted to speak up but Lisa hushed her as the adults took a seat at the table in the corner behind them.

They seemed to be conversing in private for a moment before Madame Rosmerta came over with their drinks.

"A small gillywater-"

"That would be mine." Professor McGonagall spoke up.

"Four pints of mulled mead-

"Ta, Rosemerta."

"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella."

"Thank you." Squeaked Flitwitck.

"And you're will be the red currant rum Minister."

"Thank you Rosmerta." The man replied. "I hope business is doing good."

"Well it would be better without all the Dementors every other night, but at least that good looking Muggle soldier doesn't drive away my business. He's even willing to help break up a fight or two for me when the men get too rowdy."

"Ever the gentlemen?" Zephyrus remarked.

"Like Granny raised me to be." Alfred replied.

"I don't understand why they were so insistent on having a Muggle being a guard for the boy. After all the Dementors are doing a fine job." Fudge huffed.

"The students and citizens of Hogsmeade might say otherwise." Rosmerta huffed.

"Any sightings around here?"

"None that I've heard. But everyone is still wary since the sighting in Dufftown the other day."

"I just wish I had the man power to station some Aurors out here. But with all the budget cuts that may be impossible."

'_Yeah right.'_ The Amestrians thought.

"Just remember that Black is a dangerous killer."

"If you had told me that when he was still in school I would have asked you how much mead you'd had." Rosmerta said clucking her tongue. "I still remember that boy; he was a prankster but I would have never suspected him to be dangerous."

Ethan quietly took out a small notepad and tucked it behind a newspaper. He started to dictate the conversation._ 'Maybe this will give us some much needed answers.' _

"-Especially since he and James Potter were as close as brothers!"

Alfred grimaced as did Zephyrus.

"I remember, those two were quiet the double act! Could rival the Fred and George in the pranking department. Always trying to make everyone laugh."

The Twins exchanged a look. Someone out shown them in pranks? Ethan just shuddered at the thought.

"I never could understand how the Potters were so easily killed. Lily was a strong Charms Master and James an Auror and Transfiguration Master!"

"While that is all true, they chose to use the Fidelius charm to conceal themselves from You Know Who."

"Fidelius Charm?"

"A very complex charm that seals a secret within a living soul. No one knows of that secret unless it's Secret Keeper divulges of the secret willingly." Flitwick explained. "To try and force it out will cause their death."

"Black was the Secret Keeper?"

"Naturally; James said that he trusted him with his life. Dumbledore insisted that he be the Secret Keeper himself, but the Potters refused."

Zephyrus frowned. _'Why would the Headmaster be so insistent? Did it have to do with that Prophecy that Prewett had told us about? If that's so then we might have to get a hold of it.'_

"And then, a week after it was cast, they were killed!"

"Back stabbing traitor!" Hagrid bellowed causing half of the bar went quiet.

"Hagrid!"

"He was there when arrived at Godric Hollow, after I pulled him from the wreckage! Told 'em I couldn't cuz Dumbledore told me to take him to his Aunt n Uncle's home…AND I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!"

"Hagrid hush!" McGonagall scolded.

"I can only imagine what would 'ave 'appened if I did give 'em littlw 'Arry." Hagrid sobbed before throwing back another swallow. "'E probably would 'ave thrown 'im into the sea and disappeared!

"But he didn't, did he?" Rosmerta said with some satisfaction. "The Ministry caught up to him the next day!"

"Yes, but sadly it wasn't until Peter Pettigrew caught up with him." Fudge huffed. "Poor bloke tried to confront Black on his own, then paid with own life."

Ethan and Lisa exchanged a look.

'_A day after huh?' _

"And that's event the worse part."

"What could be worse?"

"Sirius Black was, and still technically is…the boy's Godfather."

Alfred suddenly stood up and dragged Zephyrus out of the bar, startling the adults and students around them. The duo had made it outside the bar when Zephyrus spoke up.

"Let go of me Jones."

"Chief..."

"That's an order!" he snapped.

"With all due respect sir, no!" Alfred replied.

Zephyrus growled, but made no motion to push him off. He knew Alfred was stronger than he looked. He made it into the Briggs Bears for a reason.

"Okay, I think we managed to establish somewhat of a timeline now." Ethan commented as soon as the group reached them. He flipped through his notebook reading.

"First, Dumbledore warns your birth parents to go into hiding."

"They cast the Fidelius." Lisa added.

"A week later the Old Moldy bastard attacks and fails to kill you."

"Hagrid takes you out of the wreckage, Black runs after Peter."

"And kills him." Hermione finished.

The Amestrians all looked at her and shook their heads.

"Hermione; the Crown wants to capture Black alive for a reason. Under normal circumstances a wanted witch or wizard would be tracked down by Aurors or one of the Unspeakables, not Dementors."

"You think someone wants to silence him?" Hermione gasped.

"Exactly."

"Shouldn't we tell Dumbledore?"

"For all we know he could be behind it." Fred said in a low voice.

"Yeah, did you hear what Fudge said? Dumbledore was _insisting_ on being their Secret Keeper." George added. "And I don't think it was because he was just their friend or former teacher. He knew something big was happening."

"Then it's obvious now. We need to find someone who was close to Black in order to get a better idea of his motives. Something must have happened in that week prior to Halloween to make him betray the Potters." Zephyrus spoke up.

"Who do you suggest?"

"A classmate might be best, former lovers, close friends, former co-workers. I doubt there will be any relatives willing to talk." Arthur commented. "I can look around if anyone from his graduation year knew them well."

"There's a chance that Professor Lupin knew them. I saw his name on the same Gryffindor graduation record as Black's." Ethan explained.

"Professor Snape would have been a student at the time too. I can interview him." Lisa added.

"What-"

"-Can we do?"

"And me?"

"You three shouldn't get involved." Lisa commented.

"I agree." Zephyrus added.

"Me too."

"Why not!"

"Well for one thing, this could get dangerous, and you could get killed."

"So what."

"We put ourselves at risk-"

"-pranking Snape."

"And what makes you three different?"

"Since they refuse to cooperate directly with the non-magicals; Ethan and I are acting as a go between for Amestris and the Magical Ministry here. Zephyrus is already the intended target and is just kept updated on the situation." Lisa lied.

"Besides, this isn't some game." Zephyrus snapped. "Not only do you three have no kind of combative training, if you get involved and killed it could cause an international incident. We are here to capture Black, not play a game of Cops and Robbers!"

And with that the Ice Prince left with a faint wave of magic blasting around him.

_*~Ice Prince Alchemist ~*_

"He wasn't always like this." Alfred sighed as soon as the soldiers returned to their post. They had the night off since it was the Dementors turn to go on patrol. To their surprise the large black dog Alfred had fed the other night was there waiting.

"What do you mean?"

"I've known Chief since the General adopted him. My Dad was his tutor before he started the school in Frost Cove." Alfred replied. His mind flickered back to the first day he, Ivan and his twin Madeline were allowed to meet the kid. "Zephyrus had been really shy at the time, and was really reluctant to make friends."

"So why did he change?"

Alfred ran a hand through his hair and groaned. "There was…an incident about eight years ago when he was five…We were outside of Frost Cove with some other kids, playing a game of capture the flag…our team…accidentally came across an Drachman drug runners. Before we could get out of there we were spotted."

"They attacked you?"

"Yeah…the guys thought if they held us hostage then they could get around the mountain patrol nearby."

"So what happened?"

"Vash of the older kids who had been trying to find us tried to fight them off himself while the others went for help. He was shot in the back. Was paralyzed for the rest of his life" Alfred said with a grimace. "Then the leader decided that it wasn't worth it and order us to be shot. Chief…had no other choice then…he used alchemy to try and stop the Drachmans from hurting anyone else."

Arthur gasped. "Did he-?"

"All ten drug runners…were impaled and killed." Alfred replied.

Another memory flickered in. Zephyrus on the snowy ground, hands on a transmutation circle, covered in blood that wasn't even his. He was too petrified to look up at the corpse dangling inches above his head.

The dog whimpered.

"The General wouldn't let Chief come back to Frost Cove until the guard tracked down where they had come from. That was about a month or so…when he did finally come back it was like he changed. He kept his emotions closed off and was more concerned about being able to protect anyone around him." Alfred groaned. "He threw himself head first into learning how to fight, and how to help the engineers create new measures of protecting our village."

_*~Ice Prince Alchemist~*_

Upon their return to the school the group parted ways. Ethan went off to interview Lupin and Lisa headed towards the dungeons. They met up again a few minutes later as neither Professor was available.

They decided to head back to their dorms only to be met with a large crowd.

"What's going on?" Ethan asked. He peered around Seamus to get a glimpse of a torn up portrait door.

"Every one, return to the Great Hall at once!" Dumbledore ordered.

The Gryffindors did as they were told and after a what seemed like an eternity the other Houses were shuffled in as well. After summoning some sleeping bags the Professors left with Percy in charge of the students.

"What happened?" Zephyrus asked.

"Someone tried to break into Gryffindor Tower." Lisa whispered. "The Fat Lady's portrait is slashed up and she's missing."

"Sirius Black?"

"Maybe."

"Why did Black break into Gryffindor Tower? Wouldn't it have made more sense to come after me?" Zephyrus whispered.

"I'm not sure." Ethan replied. "While it's not well known internationally, in the U.K. many do know that you're a Ravenclaw."

"Then he would have probably have heard about it by now." He replied.

"So that means that there was something that he wanted to desperately to get in that tower." Lisa added.

"But why?"

"Well, Arthur did say that Black was a Gryffindor. What if it was something from his school days?"

"So you think he stashed something there?"

"Maybe." Ethan replied. "But that was what, over twenty years ago?"

"Lights out everyone!" Percy ordered.

"We need more answers." Ethan whispered.

"I got an idea." Lisa said as she gently nudged her familiar awake. "You feel like doing some spying Ithamar?"

**Spreading knowledge is good, but some knowledge can bring about corruption and pain. **

**Next time: **_Red Springs_

**The greed of Man can bring about dangerous things. **

_**A/N: Hey everyone! Before we get to the OMAKES! I just wanted to announce a poll on my profile to determine Sirius's fate! **__**Please vote!**___

_**Now without further interruption! **_

*trumpet fanfare*

_Marauders Comic Theater Presents:_

**LESSONS FROM MOTHER according to Zephyrus **

1. My mother taught me **TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE**. "If you're going to practice with knives use the old dull ones, I just sharpened these."

2. My mother taught me **RELIGION**. "Get my son _accidentally_ involved in an investigation again Mustang and no amount of prayers will stop you imminent death!"

3. My mother taught me about **TIME TRAVEL**. "If you hurt my son again I will personally send you back to your own personal Ice Age."

4. My mother taught me **LOGIC**. "Because that's just how moron politicians think. They don't know how."

5. My mother taught me **MORE LOGIC**. "If you fall off of that scaffold and crack open your skull; you're not coming with me to North City."

6. My mother taught me **FORESIGHT**. "Always keep a knife on you; you never know what lunatics are out there in the world."

7. My mother taught me **IRONY**. "Only the bullheaded and stubborn charge the enemy directly."

8. My mother taught me about the science of **OSMOSIS**. "Shut your smart mouth and eat your vegetables."

9. My mother taught me about **CONTORTIONISM**. "Just look at that scratch on your elbow."

10. My mother taught me about **STAMINA** "If you can dodge a dozen rocks you can dodge a sword."

11. My mother taught me about **WEATHER**. "See those clouds? We're about to get some freezing rain."

12. My mother taught me about **HYPOCRISY**. "You shouldn't fight when you're sick or injured."

13. My mother taught me the **CIRCLE OF LIFE**. "It's a bear eat Bear world out there. So you either get them first, or they will get you."

14. My mother taught me about **BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION**. "Miles! Stop corrupting my son!"

15. My mother taught me about **ENVY**. "He was a shape shifting Homunculus with hair like a one of those coconut trees in the Central botanical garden."

16 My mother taught me about **ANTICIPATION**. "Remember, if they look or sound like they want to hurt you, they probably will."

17. My mother taught me about **RECEIVING**. "Keep this up and you're getting the belt."

18. My mother taught me **MEDICAL SCIENCE.** "You see? This why I tell you not to make dumb expressions; your face will get stuck like that."

19. My mother taught me **ESP**. "If you're going to prank Buccaneer again, hide in the prison cells, it's the last place he'll think to look."

20. My mother taught me **HUMOR**. "When you freeze solid standing there; don't think you can come running to me for sympathy."

21. My mother taught me **HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT**. "You have homework, I have paperwork. It only gets worse as you get older."

22. My mother taught me **GENETICS**. "We may not be related by blood but I am still your Mother understand?"

23. My mother taught me about my **ROOTS**. "Stop running around like a fox, do you think you were born in the forest?"

24. My mother taught me **WISDOM**. "When you have to deal with a group of idiots you'll understand."

And my favorite: My mother taught me about **JUSTICE**. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a pint of blood for every injury they give your comrades. And for every brain cell of yours they destroy, you destroy what's left of theirs with logic."

**Living with Mustang**

In the first year of living with the Flame Alchemist Lisa learned many things about her foster father.

One; _the man was a disorganized slob at times. _

Lisa stared at what she guessed was a living room. There were newspapers stacked against a book case. A bag of empty take out cartons and some crumpled up papers.

It took her nearly two hours to clean it all up, and when Roy came back from work he did a double take at the sparkling clean room before realizing he was in the right house. To her ire the room was a disaster zone again in two days, and she ended up chasing the man with a broom.

Two; _Roy could be forgetful about eating when stressed._

Lisa lost count after the third week of how many times she had to remind the man to eat a proper meal and that fast food was not the best on a daily basis. Many times she would bring him a tray of food to his home office or pack a lunch for him.

He finally got the point after a week of nothing but some of the spiciest curry and rice recipes she could make.

Three; _Roy could be very overprotective of her._

On her first visit to HQ there was a new recruit who flirted with her. Roy threatened to turn him to charcoal if he even looked at her again. And this was before Havoc and Brenda started to grill him with Fuery standing behind them with an electrician's welding gun and a battery.

_Four; He had his 'moments'_

Lisa was walking up to the second floor of the house with a fresh load of laundry when she passed by Roy's room. And…he was singing. Peering in through the doorway she saw Roy standing in front of a full length mirror holding a comb like a microphone.

"_Snap, snap! Spark, spark! It's time to light up the diggy-diggy-dark! I'm the Flame Alchemist and I'm gonna be Fuhrer; My beats are hot and my rhymes are purer! I like the ladies in the miniskirts, I be posing in the mirror without my fancy shirts. I'm gonna set your heart on fire- whoosh! Whoosh! And you know my heart burns bright too, ka-boom, ka-boom! My fire power tonight is feeling just right, ka-blam, ka-blam!"_

Roy stopped singing when he realized Lisa was rolling in the hallway dying of laughter. The basket of laundry abandoned.

**Devils of the Desert**

"Elijah! We have a big problem!" a young monk yelled as he ran up to the former assassin.

"What is it?" he asked. "Bandits? Alchemists?"

"No! The Weasely Twins are coming back in a week!"

Elijah paled as he remembered the day of chaos the two spread after they learned that one of the Ishvalan holidays was a day of playing jokes on friends and neighbors.

People turning blue. The main fountain producing nothing but cherry soda for over an hour. Rain…INDOORS! Singing chickens and cows! Tap dancing crows! Talking cheese!

And that was before the other children joined in!

And the FIREWORKS visible from East City!

"May Ishvala save us all."

_**A/n: Now, many of you who know the books by heart know that 'Harry' doesn't find out about his Dog father until before Christmas time. But I needed to speed up the development a bit. **_


End file.
